You already have to wear a mask to ride in a Lyft or Uber. Now, additional Lyft vehicles will be covering up as well.
Lyft is starting to distribute plastic partitions for drivers to install in their cars. The partitions are going to Lyft's most active drivers in Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, Seattle, Boston, Phoenix, Dallas, and New York City after high-frequency drivers in Atlanta, Denver, and Baltimore received their dividers earlier this month.
In the next few months, Lyft plans to drop off dividers in 30 different regions where the company operates. That'll eventually add up to 60,000 drivers with free partitions. There are about 1.4 million Lyft drivers throughout the U.S. and Canada.
In those more active cities, Lyft wants to reach about 50 percent coverage so that it's more likely you'll get a ride with added protection. The dividers are meant to help block airflow between passengers and drivers on top of safety protocols like mask-wearing, rolling windows down, and keeping passengers in the backseat away from the driver.
Here's how to assemble and install the plastic pieces with Velcro straps:
For drivers that don't receive a free plastic divider, Lyft will sell them for $50 on its new online Lyft Store later this summer. The store is already up and running, but you have to be registered Lyft driver to access the online shop.
The partitions aren't straight off the shelf, but designed from within Lyft with feedback from drivers and riders. A prototype from a few months ago was tested on a few pilot trips. After that, driver and rider opinion shaped the final product that drivers are receiving this month.
Both Uber and Lyft have been sending sanitizing and protective equipment like masks to drivers since March, when the coronavirus outbreak took off in the U.S. Just this month, Uber struck a deal with Clorox to give 600,000 disinfectant wipe canisters to drivers for free.
