Uber and Lyft have a driver shortage problem. With the number of US-based drivers for both apps down around 40 percent, the two companies are pledging to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to lure people back into the driver seat.
Uber announced Wednesday that it was launching a $250 million “stimulus” for drivers in the hopes of speeding their return to the platform. According to data from Apptopia, the number of US-based drivers logging into Uber during the first three months of 2021 was down 37.5 percent year over year. Lyft saw a 42.3 percent drop over the same period.
The hope is that these incentives can help persuade those drivers who logged off after being discouraged by the lack of riders to eventually come back. A major challenge for this effort, though, is that COVID-19 continues to be a huge drag on Uber’s and Lyft’s respective businesses.
Read the article at The Verge.
