Lyft app gets bike lanes to encourage safer cycling

Lyft is adding protected bike lanes and bike-friendly routes to its app to encourage more people to use two-wheeled transportation. The Verge reports that the protected bike lanes will appear as dark green lines in the app while bike-friendly routes that are less protected will be represented as dotted green lines. The feature is available for Lyft bikes and scooter-sharing services on iOS devices, with Android to follow soon. Lyft’s head of micromobility policy, Caroline Samponaro, says: “Each ride
September 26, 2019 Read time: 2 mins

8789 Lyft is adding protected bike lanes and bike-friendly routes to its app to encourage more people to use two-wheeled transportation. 

%$Linker: 2 External <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 0 0 0 link-external The Verge false https://www.theverge.com/2019/9/19/20874032/lyft-add-bike-lane-app-citi-bike false false%> reports that the protected bike lanes will appear as dark green lines in the app while bike-friendly routes that are less protected will be represented as dotted green lines.

The feature is available for Lyft bikes and scooter-sharing services on iOS devices, with 1812 Android to follow soon.

Lyft’s head of micromobility policy, Caroline Samponaro, says: “Each ride on a bike or scooter represents a win for the environment, congestion and a more liveable city.”

Separately, Lyft is working with the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association (BCBSA) to help ensure US passengers do not miss healthcare appointments due to lack of reliable transportation.

BCBSA is a federation of independent and locally operated health insurance companies in which both parties originally developed separately. Blue Cross covered hospital services while Blue Shield handled physician services.

BCBSA chief medical officer Dr Trent Haywood says many Americans live in areas where medical care is beyond the reach of walking, biking or public transportation.

“As a result, they struggle to access critical health care services, even when they have health insurance,” he continues. “We are committed to addressing issues like transportation that are inextricably linked to health outcomes yet can’t be tackled through health care resources alone.”

BCBS combined a study on the health experiences of its members with local data on issues such as transportation, nutrition and the environment to focus on the community factors that have the most impact on individual health.

Over the next few months, BCBS will incorporate Lyft services into a free service for select Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies which remain unnamed.

Urban Traffic Control

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Rapidly-changing mobility environment is challenging policymakers, says UK DfT
    January 25, 2019
    Policy makers are working hard to make sense of a rapidly-changing mobility environment, according to a senior official from the UK’s Department for Transport (DfT). Ella Taylor, DfT’s head, future of mobility, Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (C/AV), says the pace of development in transportation modes, such as e-scooters (not currently allowed in the UK) and e-bikes (which are), presents difficulties for governments trying to create standards and laws. “Across the globe, different modes
    Read More
  • RAC Foundation: UK drivers receive 12 million penalties annually
    October 25, 2017
    Up to 12 million driving license holders receive a penalty notice each year – the equivalent of one every 2.5 seconds; meaning as many as a third (30%) of Britain's 40 million drivers now receive a penalty notice annually. The findings come from the Automated Road Traffic Enforcement: Regulation, Governance and Use - for the RAC Foundation by Dr Adam Snow, a lecturer in criminology at Liverpool Hope University. The penalty notices include the Fixed Penalty Notice (a criminal penalty issued
    Read More
  • MaaS Market London: Top names debate local authorities’ digital dilemma
    January 16, 2019
    Key players in the transport sector will debate the challenges faced by local authorities worldwide from new digitised platforms such as Mobility as a Service (MaaS) in a dedicated session at ITS International’s 2019 MaaS Market Conference in London this March. Taxi-hailing apps have already demonstrated the disruptive nature of new digitised transport services. As a result, some local authorities have struggled to retain control over issues such as traffic management and the vetting of taxi drivers and
    Read More
  • Grab Ventures and NUS launch e-scooter service at Singapore campus
    November 26, 2018
    Grab Ventures has launched a three-month electric scooter pilot at the National University of Singapore’s (NUS) Kent Ridge campus for three months. The subsidiary of technology firm Grab says it offers a green transportation option for NUS staff and students. The scooters are available at eight parking locations on the campus. Grab intends to increase this number to 30 by the end of December. Professor Yong Kwet Yew, NUS senior vice president, says the partnership provides a last-mile transportation op
    Read More

Highlighted Content