to help drivers verify the riders' identities.
Beginning on 27 August, the new program from the ride-sharing app will be available to nine markets in the U.S. - Atlanta, Chicago, Denver, Detroit, Houston, Jacksonville, Miami, Phoenix, and lastly Seattle. We don't know yet when Lyft will be launching this program in more cities because they declined to make an announcement.
Riders will be able to see from now on a verification badge placed next to their profile that indicates the fact that the ride-sharing app has confirmed their identity and they are indeed using their real name. To do so, Lyft is using third-party databases to confirm personal information such as the rider’s real name or phone number.
In the case when the name from the rider’s profile does not match the legal name, riders will have to enter it before the next verification process. After that, if the verification process can’t be confirmed again, riders might need to upload legitimate identification, a driver’s license, ID, or passport. The riders who can’t provide any sort of identification must contact Lyft support to provide an alternative.
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In addition to this, when a rider requests a ride for someone else, they can now use the “Change rider” option. Every guest on the ride is required to have a Lyft account with a verification badge.
This new Lyft program is following the Uber launching that happened earlier this year which has the same functions as the ride-sharing app Lyft. Similar to their features, the Uber app checks the personal information that riders provide and displays a blue checkmark if these details are true and legal. Uber is available with this feature in 15 cities across the U.S. such as Atlanta, Chicago, and Detroit.
Even with these verification programs, ride-sharing drivers are always exposed to a level of risk when they are accepting riders. And in the big cities when the level of criminality is high the risk is even higher.
There are many cases where drivers from Uber and Lyft are robbed or even killed every year. Because of these events, it’s important to have a new layer of protection for both riders and drivers to ensure a safer environment for everyone.
We advise you to be very careful and pay attention to every detail when you are traveling through a ride-sharing app like Uber or Lyft!
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