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BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — Lyft is now letting riders pay for their rides in a new way—by using cash.
The new system allows riders to add cash to their Lyft Cash balance and use it to pay for rides. This can be done at more than 35,000 retail locations across the nation including Walmart and Walgreens. Lyft Cash is a feature that allows riders to preload money into their Lyft account to pay for rides.
Riders who want to pay with cash can exchange money for Lyft cash by going to one of the participating stores and having the cashier scan their Lyft cash barcode in the Lyft app. After this, the rider can now use their Lyft cash to pay for their trips.
In a statement, Lyft said its motivation behind creating this cash option was to expand access to easy transportation for riders who may not have access to a bank account, credit, debit, or prepaid card. Lyft cited a report from the FDIC that said 7.1 million U.S. households do not have a bank account, and those households are disproportionately in communities of color.
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"We’re excited that Lyft is working to expand the accessibility to transportation across the country, specifically for the cash-preferred and unbanked population who have often faced roadblocks when it comes to getting where they need to go,” Antoine Holman, NAACP Vice President of Corporate Relations said in a statement.
When making cash to Lyft Cash transfers, riders will have to transfer a minimum of $30 to their account to make sure they have enough funds to pay for the ride.
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