Lyft adds wait-time fees, nearly seven years after Uber

Lyft has introduced wait-time fees — in other words, charges incurred if a Lyft driver has to wait for you upon pickup. The rideshare platform hasn’t had these previously, despite its main competitor Uber having them since 2016. Lyft’s wait-time fees kick in two minutes after on-time arrival for standard rides and five minutes after for Black and Black XL, and are charged on a per-minute basis.

Wait-time fees also don’t apply to early arrivals for pickups — until the driver is waiting after the originally scheduled pickup time. They also don’t apply to a number of specific ride types, including Shared, Access, Assisted and Car Seat rides. And you also don’t pay wait-time fees if the ride ends up being canceled (you just pay the cancelation fee if it’s on your end).

This is hardly a surprising change from Lyft, and it introduced more consistency for drivers who are operating across both platforms. But it is Lyft giving up on one of the remaining differentiators between it and its competition on the rider side.