Lyft’s new “shuttle service” sounds an awful lot like a city bus

Lifehacker this morning published a story about Lyft’s new “shuttle service,” which is currently being tested in San Francisco and Chicago. Lyft describes it as a “low fixed fare along convenient routes, with no surprise stops.” 

The write-up was pretty glowing, calling the service “much more convenient to take than a Lyft Line.” It went on to describe a few drawbacks: The service happens during peak commute hours and “you’re only picked up and dropped off in certain spots.” Hmm, that sure sounds like a familiar service. Twitter, unsurprisingly, went to town:

this is a bus. Lyft invented a bus. Lyft shuttle is a bus. pic.twitter.com/NTjXbqGdYT
— Jules N. Binoculars (@surfbordt) June 19, 2017

holy shit this is literally just a fucking bus route burn silicon valley to the ground and salt the ashes https://t.co/n9K9c9X2YO
— Matt Novak (@paleofuture) June 19, 2017

Is a car on a set route with set stops just a smaller, privatized bus? Common sense says yes. But perhaps Silicon Valley abides by something other than common sense. CGW