Ride-hailing services have officially gone liveas of Friday morning (Jan. 24), but commuters looking to get from point A to point B will find some distinct differences between the only two competitors allowed to operate.
For one thing, Lyft Canada Inc. isn’t running in Burnaby right now and it's unclear when it will be.
Lyft revealed early in the day it’s initially offering services only within a “core area.” That includes Vancouver International Airport (YVR) in Richmond, the Pacific National Exhibition grounds near Burnaby and what it describes as the “core” of the City of Vancouver.
Lyft B.C. general manager Peter Lukomskyj told reporters in downtown Vancouver that the core is bounded by Dunbar Street in the west, Victoria Drive in the east and 41st Avenue in the south.
The biggest issue is a lack of drivers.
“Really what we’re doing today is matching our operating region with the number of drivers that we have on the platform,” he said before hopping behind the wheel to offer Lyft’s inaugural ride in Vancouver just after 8 a.m.
“What we want to do is expand that region as quickly as possible as soon as we have enough drivers on the platform.”
- With additional reporting by Tyler Orton, Business in Vancouver.
