Lyft has just embarked on the biggest one-day expansion of its ride-sharing service, rolling into more than 50 additional cities across the United States.
The major multicity launch took place on Thursday and comes a month after Lyft landed in another 40 cities throughout the country. This means that only two months into 2017, the San Francisco-based company is already close to reaching its year-end target of 100 new cities, a figure that’ll take its total count to around 300. In comparison, Uber is currently estimated to be operating in around 210 cities in the U.S.
“In just the first two months of 2017, we’ve introduced Lyft to 94 new cities, thanks in large part to today’s launch,” Lyft’s Jaime Raczka said in a release. “We look forward to continuing this rapid momentum, bringing Lyft’s safe, affordable rides to even more cities this year.”
According to its coverage map, the bulk of Lyft’s new locations are in Midwest states such as Iowa, Michigan, and Wisconsin, though you’ll also find a smattering in New England, Florida, and on the West Coast.
With main rival Uber reeling from recent allegations of sexism in the workplace, and CEO Travis Kalanick’s perceived misstep among some users in appearing to cozy up with Trump, and Google-owned Waze this week announcing an expansion of its Carpool service across the nation, the feisty ride-sharing market is clearly showing no sign of dropping down a gear.
As of August 2016, Lyft was completing more than 14.5 million rides per month, triple that of a year earlier. And it’s not content with simply working to build on those promising figures. Like Uber, Google (don’t forget, it owns Waze), and a slew of car makers, Lyft is also interested in autonomous vehicles, inking a major deal with GM last year to develop the technology.
