Lyft to provide drivers with partition shields as coronavirus protection

[NEW YORK] Lyft said on Friday it would distribute some 60,000 vehicle partition shields to its most-active drivers as a protection against the coronavirus and begin selling the custom-made protective barriers to other drivers later this summer.

The ride-hailing company began in May to require both passengers and drivers to wear a mask during trips and said it had provided North American drivers with more than 150,000 sanitising products and masks since the outbreak of the pandemic.

Lyft began designing the semi-rigid partition shields, made out of a polycarbonate material, several months ago and has since piloted it with a group of ride-hail drivers to solicit feedback, a spokesperson said.

"It was critical to us that the design met the needs of rideshare drivers specifically, accommodated a wide range of vehicle models, could be self-installed and easily removed, and could be produced at a price point far lower than what is currently available in the market," the spokesperson said in a statement.

Lyft will sell the partitions for about US$50 at production cost and without a markup, the company said. Vehicle partition shields are available online from various manufacturers, with prices ranging from US$50 to more than US$100.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued coronavirus guidelines in April to professional drivers and recommended the installation of a partition between a driver and passengers.

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As of March 2019, Lyft had nearly two million drivers in the United States and Canada, where it operates. But regulators and analysts estimate the number of active drivers has dropped significantly during the pandemic, when ridership plummeted because of sweeping stay-at-home orders.

Lyft said in June that trip requests on its platform rose around 26 per cent from the low point in April but were still some 70 per cent under prior-year levels.

REUTERS