Lyft to return almost $90K to some DC scooter users as part of settlement
WASHINGTON (DC News Now) — Lyft has to return almost $90,000 to some D.C. scooter users after a settlement with Attorney General Brian Schwalb.
Schwalb’s office announced Thursday that it had concluded an investigation into Lyft’s “failure to provide proper notice to consumers about fines the company imposed when scooters were parked improperly.”
The release said that D.C. implemented new rules in 2021 about electric scooter parking that required riders to lock rental scooters to either a bike rack, designated scooter corral or sign post. Any scooter rental company was also required to notify users who did not properly park scooters and charge the users a fine.
Schwalb said that Lyft did notify people renting scooters about the new parking rules and started charging fines, but some users were “surprised” by the $26.50 fine, with many only finding out about it via bank or credit card statements after the fact.
The news release said that the Attorney General’s office found that Lyft did not properly disclose how much the fines were ahead of time. There were also problems with notification — the fines were not listed in the app or in receipt emails. Schwalb’s office said that Lyft believed it was sending separate emails to let users know about parking violations and charges, but “problems with its internal systems” kept a lot of these emails from being sent.
“Lyft cooperated throughout OAG’s investigation and worked to immediately remedy issues with the parking fine process after they were brought to the company’s attention,” the news release said.
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As part of the settlement, Lyft will give refunds that total $89,952 to any user who was charged a fee but did not get an email about it. The release said that these fines happened between Jan. 1, 2022, and Sept. 7, 2022.
Lyft will also have to include more information about parking fines with customers. Officials said that whenever there is a fine, Lyft will send an email with information about the fine amount and which ride received the fine. Lyft will also have to make photos of the violations available to customers so they can review and challenge them if necessary. Fine information will be available in the “Ride History” tab of the Lyft app.
The release said that Lyft will also have to pay $20,000 to D.C.
“We are continually improving our effort to educate riders on how to safely and properly park according to the District’s scooter parking requirements, and have recently made a number of improvements to give riders a clearer and simpler process when we believe they did not,” Lyft said in a statement provided to DC News Now.
“DC residents and visitors enjoy a wide variety of options for getting around the city, including electric scooters, and the District’s scooter parking rules help keep our streets and sidewalks safe for everyone,” Schwalb said in the release. “Scooter rental companies are legally required to let consumers know that if they fail to lock scooters up appropriately after use, they will be charged a fine. While Lyft failed to do so, we appreciate its cooperation throughout this investigation and its willingness to do the right thing for DC consumers as soon as our team brought these issues to the company’s attention.”
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