Lyft Aspired to Kill Car Ownership. Now It Aims to Profit From It

Today the company announced it wants to be the place to go to care for your own car. Lyft’s app will offer a way to find and reserve parking in 16 cities, summon roadside assistance, and schedule vehicle maintenance.

Adding those new services is a small step for an app but part of a much bigger shift in ride hailing. As Lyft and its larger competitor Uber search for a way to finally generate a profit, some visions they once espoused for the future have been tweaked, if not left on the side of the road. Lyft once pushed for an end to personal car ownership. Now it’s betting that will continue and even provide a new source of revenue. Some 75 percent of its users own a car. “We’re meeting our riders and customers where they are,” says Jody Kelman, the company’s head of fleet.