Lyft Nabs New Driver Support Head From Tesla
Karim Bousta Joins Lyft As VP Of Driver Experience
Lyft has announced their latest hire in an ongoing effort to improve driver support. Karim Bousta, formerly of Tesla and Symantec, has joined Lyft to head up driver support.
Before coming to Lyft, Bousta was Tesla’s VP of Worldwide Service and Customer Experience. Prior to his stint at Tesla, he was the VP of Global Technical Services for Symantec.
To start with, Bousta will oversee the Express Drive program. He will also oversee the launch Lyft’s redesigned driver hubs and is looking to expand and improve Lyft’s rewards program for drivers.
Express Drive is Lyft’s rental program. The company partners with Hertz and Flexdrive to offer rental vehicles in 30 cities. Lyft drivers without cars utilize the program, as can drivers who want to keep the mileage down on their personal vehicle.
Renting a car can often help full time drivers lower their maintenance costs. In fact, according to Lyft, if you drive rideshare a lot, renting your vehicle can save you up to $4500 a year in insurance and maintenance costs.
Lyft is planning to add Lyft Express drive to more markets. The company goal is to double the size of the Express Drive fleet by the end of 2018.
New Lyft Hubs
Lyft recently announced a $100 million investment in new driver support centers, also called Lyft Hubs. Bousta will be overseeing the launch of the new centers.
While at Tesla, Bousta helped launch the company’s innovative mobile and remote support programs. Hopefully, he can successfully adapt some of the support innovations from Tesla to Lyft’s new driver hubs.
Some centers will include access to low cost basic maintenance, car washes, tax advice, and communal areas where drivers can refresh or chat with other drivers.
The overall goal of Lyft’s driver support push is to help drivers earn more by offsetting some of the costs of driving. As Bousta noted, “the biggest burden of driving is the cost of vehicle maintenance, servicing, and insurance. My goal is to severely reduce or even eliminate that burden and put more money back in our drivers’ pockets.”
Bousta was brought on board by Lyft COO Jon McNeil, who also joined Lyft from Tesla earlier in 2018.