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Lyft shares driving higher after the ride-sharing company reported better-than-expected gross bookings for its first quarter. Lyft's results, a contrast to rival Uber, whose gross bookings fell short in the most recent quarter. Here to discuss Lyft's results is CEO David Risher alongside our executive editor Brian Sozzi. David, great to speak with you. Thank you for making time for us this morning. It's really interesting to look at your results, especially when compared to your competitor Uber here. What do you think that Lyft was able to do over the course of the quarter and over the course of your several years here now as CEO to outrun your competitor?

Uh, obsessed over our customers. It's just it's just that. You know, I worked for Jeff Bezos for a long time, and he really taught me the importance of looking super closely, figuring out exactly what your riders and drivers in our case want, and just really overdoing it to give it to them. And our service levels have never been better. Uh, we're doing all sorts of great things for for drivers. I'll give you one statistic. We now have a 23 percentage point advantage over the other guy in terms of driver preference, and that's because we treat drivers well, and, um, and they they deliver great service.

David, one of the things that we've continued to track across the travel industry, and especially in our conversations with airline CEOs over the course of this quarter and results, is the uncertainty in their outlooks and how that could potentially be passing through even to the ride sharing, is something that investors, I know, have been paying close attention to. What are some of the trends that you're seeing just around those hubs as it's kind of passed through to the Lyft business?

Yeah. You know, it's so interesting, and of course, everyone's very interested in this, and I understand why. The truth is we haven't seen anything to be concerned about. Uh, and I'll give you a couple of examples. Let's look, for example, at our last week in March. It was our best week ever in terms of ride volume. Let's look at Cinco de Mayo, which just happened just last week. Uh, uh, super strong, really nothing nothing going on there. Even airports, I mean, it's true, as we said last time, in airports, but just a tiny bit on the softer side, but honestly, it's so small is to be almost negligible. And of course, in our business, the bigger question is, you know, how can we get right now only about 20% of people take a rideshare, uh, to the airport, but where are the other 80%? So, I'm more focused on the big opportunity right there. Honestly, haven't seen much to be concerned about in terms of consumer sentiment.

Uh, David, good to see you as always here. Like Brian was mentioning, uh, look, the economy slowed down the first quarter, but it's still a still a competitive market for talent. Really curious on what you think about, you know, a lot of the feedback to say it lightly that Dara Uber's getting, uh, for getting his employees back to the office three days a week. And then, secondarily, what's your return to work plan?

Sure. So, we, you know, hey, Brian, good to see you. I, um, you know, joined in this seat a couple of years ago, almost two years and, I think, two weeks ago. And one of the first things I did is, uh, told our employees that we're going to be back in the office three days a week. So, you know, we've really been ahead of this. Um, you know, our focus has been on really obsessing over our customers and and as, you know, I mean, our purpose is to serve and connect, to serve and connect, and it's really hard to do that if you're all sitting around, you know, sort of being isolated at home. I have all sorts of things to say about societies when they get isolated. I don't think it's very good for society, and I think it's great for business when you get people back in the office, so that's what we've done.

Well, clearly, I mean, you've gained, it seems like you're gaining, uh, the competitive edge against your other guy, uh, as you mentioned. Do you want to go to five days a week? Do you think that really helps you go further ahead of what Uber's doing? I mean, they're they're two days, David. Why not go to five and and really take it to him, man?

I, you know what? I don't think that's what we're going to fight over. I think, look, I'm gonna I'm gonna do a pivot. This is what CEOs do, and I'm gonna talk about a, um, a new feature that we've just launched called Lift Silver, which is all about getting, uh, older folks, you know, out and about, and making sure they live their best lives. That's the type of feature that you really get when you're obsessed over your customers, when you focus on what it is that they want. And you know, whether you're two or three days a week or five days a week in the office is sort of secondary to really focusing on, um, and what it is your riders and drivers want.

Well, I remember, I think back when you first started, David, and I think we talked to you pretty much right when it happened. You had to make a lot of tough decisions out of the gate.

Yeah.

Would you just say simply say, "It is what it is?" Or do you have to have now, in this environment, you have to have more compassion for your workforce?

Yeah.

Uh, I think you have to have some compassion for your workforce. I really do. I, you know, look, here's something that we know. Uh, people do their best work when they feel supported. People do their most creative work when they're together, bouncing ideas off of each other, but honestly, people also have complicated lives. They've got kids to deal with. They've got babysitters. They've got moms. They've got, you know, uh, attend to as they age. Uh, so, you know, I think we've got the right, um, it's it's a hybrid strategy. I think it works really well for us.

I want to go back to a little bit of the balance sheet here, Brian, because, uh, David, sorry, because one of the things that you point out that I think is really interesting is the obsession with the customer, and part of the way you've obsessed over the customer is keeping prices low to eke up market share from your competitors. How do you continue to do that in an environment that's increasingly competitive and increasingly hearing from analysts that they want you to continue pouring cash back into the company through things like the buybacks you announced versus keeping prices lower for customers?

Yeah, it's not a trade-off. You have to do both. You have to do both. And so, so again, you have to start with the customer, and I'll give you an example of something that we've done. Uh, we've talked about it in the past, which is Price Lock. Price Lock is a way for any rider who wants to, who does a daily, you know, kind of commute or something that has the same route over and over again to lock in a price, so they don't have to deal with all the surge pricing, uh, baloney that that that somehow the ride share industry has convinced people is is okay. We we don't think it's okay. We're trying to get rid of it as much as we can, and that's our mechanism. That's a product that's increased every single quarter since we've launched it. Very high retention rate, 75%. Uh, you know, so really good growth there. So that's an example of how you can do right by your customer, give them an affordable product, and in this case, a reliable product, and at the same time, as you mentioned, Madison, we, you know, generated 700, excuse me, $920 million in cash over the last 12 months. So, we figured out a way to do both, and that's going to be the way we continue to grow as a business.

David, I was just at the Milken conference, uh, out in California, and I was walking back to the hotel with an $8 Starbucks coffee, and out passes me this this Waymo driving past me with no with nobody driving in the car and and somebody in the back. I'm like, well, that is some weird stuff. I mean, why are you launching autonomous vehicles in Atlanta? Does the world really need this stuff?

Does the world need it? Well, okay, it's a great starting point. You know, are you are you building technologies just to build it, or are you building it because people actually want it? Here's what I'll say about autonomous vehicles. They're going to be an enormously important, and I think positive, uh, addition, you know, to sort of our transportation infrastructure. Why? Because they are safe. Not only do they know the rules of the road, they follow the rules of the road. And over time, you know, that's going to just expand the market for people being driven by something else. Sometimes drivers, sometimes robots, you know, fine. As you said, we're launching in Atlanta in a couple of months, uh, with our partner May Mobility. Super excited about that. You know, honestly, it'll be a small scale. You have to step into this. This is going to take years and years and years and years to to kind of get right and to get great. Um, but I'm excited about it. I think it's actually going to open up new opportunities, and at the same time, I have to say there are a lot of people who are going to want to be driven by, you know, a great driver who maybe helps with their luggage, maybe even asks you how your day's going if you're having a tough day. So, I actually, I'm kind of excited about the the sort of hybrid future of autonomous and and, uh, human drivers.

David, only got 30 seconds here, but for the cost, the operating cost per mile for Lyft's business in the future, when you expand this and scale it up, what does that look like in terms of bringing that cost down?

Well, are you referring to autonomous or or more generally? I mean, we're always Yeah, sure. I mean, of course, like any business, you know, we're trying to lower our costs. When you think about autonomous, you know, you might think, of course, that the cost will be lower because you don't have to pay a driver. On the other hand, insurance is a bit of an unknown, uh, repairs and maintenance are a bit of an unknown. So, of course, if that happens, we'll be excited about it. It'll allow us to offer it to more people. Um, but it's going to be years out before I think cost is really a significant part of the equation.

David, thanks so much for taking the time here with us today.

For sure, enjoyed it. Thanks, y'all.