LYFT reported first-quarter results and financial guidance that beat investors’ expectations, a sign of the company’s ability to retain and attract new riders in the US and Canada.

Gross bookings – a key industry metric representing the value of transactions for rides excluding tips – jumped 21 per cent to US$3.7 billion for the first three months of the year, the company said on Tuesday (May 7), surpassing analysts’ estimates of US$3.6 billion on average.

The number of active riders at 21.9 million also exceeded expectations, growing at the fastest pace since 2022. The company in a statement cited “improvement in rider retention along with an increase in new riders” and more focused efforts in its Canadian markets.

For the current quarter, the company expects to post approximately US$4 billion to US$4.1 billion in gross bookings. Wall Street had been expecting US$4.02 billion.

“We are executing well and bringing much-needed innovation to the market. That’s why drivers and riders are choosing Lyft more often,” said chief executive officer David Risher.

Lyft has struggled to win market share from its much-larger rideshare rival, Uber Technologies, which operates on a global scale and has expanded into other areas such as food delivery and taxi rides.

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But Lyft’s revenue growth has accelerated and its net losses have narrowed since Risher assumed the role of CEO a year ago, as he focused on trimming costs, increasing customer satisfaction and luring riders with lower prices. The company has also made an effort to win over drivers by guaranteeing a certain percentage of take-home earnings and launching various programmes such as pairing women riders with women drivers.

Over the past year, Lyft has also focused on expanding its presence in five of Canada’s largest cities, doubling rides and more than doubling new riders and driver hours in the first quarter.

On Tuesday, the company reported the second consecutive quarter of positive free cash flow and narrowed its net losses much more than analysts expected. Net losses for the first quarter were US$31.5 million, compared with the average estimate for a loss of US$59.7 million. Additionally, Lyft revised its full-year expectation that it will convert at least 70 per cent of adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation to free cash flow, up from 50 per cent announced in February. BLOOMBERG