Lyft IPO says car ownership in a state of permanent decline

According to a media report, Lyft founders, Logan Green and John Zimmer have filed their IPO (initial public offering) papers. They believe that car ownership is in permanent decline and they want to kill it.

Lyft, which rivals Uber, claims that the world is at the beginning of a shift from car ownership to Transportation-as-a-Service, also known as TaaS. The company says that Americans spend more than US$ 9,500 annually on car ownership and operation, which is more than any other expenditure except housing. It also claims that the average cost of a new vehicle has gone up to US$ 33,000 and that more than 3,00,000 Lyft riders have given up personal cars in favour of the ride-hailing service.

Car sales fell by around 18% in the UK and 60% in Turkey from January 2018 to January 2019. While Turkey's economy has suffered a collapse, the UK has seen a fall in car sales due to Brexit and weaker demand. Car sales also fell in other parts of the world including mainland Europe and the US.

Source: Business Insider