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Lyft Acquires Hitch to Expand Carpool Service

Lyft is testing on-demand carpool options that will let passengers share rides — and costs — with other people going the same way.

Lyft is getting hitched.

The San Francisco company announced this week that it is acquiring Hitch, maker of a smartphone app to summon a driver and share the ride with up to three unrelated passengers. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Hitch connects users with people going in the same direction. The carpool service is similar to Lyft Line, which launched in San Francisco in August. Both services require users to enter their destination before requesting a ride.

“We have seen incredible growth and demand for Lyft Line in San Francisco, and the Hitch team and technology will help us move even faster to bring shared rides to more people,” the company said in a blog post.

Lyft, along with rivals Uber and Sidecar, are testing on-demand carpool options that will let passengers share rides — and costs — with other people going the same way. All are initially trying out the services in San Francisco, where they are based and have thousands of riders and drivers.

With costs averaging 30 to 40 percent less than solo rides, the shared services may compete with public transit as well as car ownership.

But the new services face an uncertain regulatory environment in California. State officials recently told Uber, Lyft and Sidecar that their carpool options are a no-go because they violate a state law against charging different fares to passengers in a hired vehicle.

But it turns out that the California Public Utilities Commission, which sent warning letters to the companies, merely wants to spur them to get legislators to overhaul the law.

Lyft got its start in 2007 as a carpooling service for long-distance shared rides, called Zimride. Two years ago, it adopted its model of paid solo rides, primarily within a city, by drivers in their own cars.

“We planted the seeds with supply and demand,” co-founder and CEO Logan Green said earlier. “Lyft Line is our biggest step in bringing down prices. ... We've been thinking about this ever since we launched Lyft. We always intended to do it.”

The carpool options, like the services themselves, are limited to people with smartphones and credit cards. Those on the wrong side of the digital divide, and those who don't use banks, are left out. Disabled activists already criticize the ride companies for a lack of accessible vehicles.

Hitch co-founders Snir Kodesh and Noam Szpiro are joining Lyft. The Hitch app was shut down Tuesday for drivers and passengers, according to Lyft. Drivers will be invited to join Lyft Line.

Lyft Line provides savings of up to 60 percent, according to the company’s website, even if it fails to find another passenger. It is available in San Francisco and in a limited test in Los Angeles.

©2014 the San Francisco Chronicle