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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 sanitizing
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 spokeswoman 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 spokeswoman said in a
statement.
Lyft will sell the partitions for about $50 at production cost
and without a markup, the company said. Vehicle partition
shields are available online from various manufacturers, with
prices ranging from $50 to more than $100.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued
coronavirus guidelines https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/organizations/rideshare-drivers-for-hire.html
in April to professional drivers and recommended the
installation of a partition between a driver and passengers.
As of March 2019, Lyft had nearly 2 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% from the low point in April but were still some 70% under
prior-year levels.
(Reporting by Tina Bellon in New York; Editing by Peter Cooney)
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