Up until now, one of the main reasons people preferred Uber when traveling in groups was that the ridesharing service allowed passengers to split fares through its mobile app, a feature the company released back in July last year. But that may change soon as rival Lyft has also rolled out a similar feature.
To use the feature, open Lyft's mobile app, go to the ride options menu, and then select the 'Split payment' option. You can invite up to five friends from your contacts list; those invited will receive a text message asking them to confirm the split in their app, or download it if they do not yet have it.
An important point worth noting here is that Lyft will charge a $0.25 fee whenever passengers use the feature.
The news comes nearly a month after Lyft launched a feature, dubbed Driver Destination, that allows drivers to filter potential riders based on whether or not they are traveling in the same direction as the driver.
Last month, the company launched Lyft for Work, a service the ridesharing startup says allows companies to pay for work-related transportation. The launch came just a few months after Uber rolled out a similar service dubbed Uber for Business.