Lyft adding age verification to bike share service in New York

Lyft has announced that it will start using age verification for its Citi Bike bicycle-sharing service in New York, following a request from city authorities.

The news came after New York’s First Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro wrote a letter to Lyft CEO David Risher last week, warning that the firm may face consequences unless it ensures its users are 16 or older.

Implementing the age verification system will be complex, Michael Brous, president and CEO of Lyft Urban Solutions, said in a response to the city. Citi Bike operates 20,000 bikes, including more than 4,000 e-bikes. Its total annual membership stands at 132,022.

The firm is planning to go through multiple steps, including evaluating and negotiating with vendors and ensuring user privacy. The process would likely take three months, adds Brous.

In its letter, the First Deputy Mayor suggested the use of a driver’s license or learner’s permit for age verification, the Gothamist reports.

Lyft uses GBG and Persona for biometric identity checks for its driver platform. Persona also offers a selfie-based age verification solution that is currently used by Reddit and Roblox for online age checks.

Lime, which the New York Post reports operates a scooter network in New York City, also requires new riders 18 years or older to scan a form of identification to verify their age. Lime relies on Persona to perform more than 17000 age checks globally each month.

Lyft’s decision to move towards age verification comes after concerns over a rise in electric bike crashes involving minors. New York recorded 480 e-bike collisions this year, a rise of more than 30 percent compared to the same period last year, according to data from the city’s police.

New York isn’t the only city struggling to control underage drivers. The accidental death of a 12-year-old boy in 2023 in the UK city of Birmingham led the city to switch its shared electric scooter provider from Voi to Beryl.

The Voi e-scooter service was supposed to be restricted to riders 18 years and above, but the child evaded the age verification system due to a lack of authentication for each rental transaction. Beryl added driver’s license scans and selfie biometrics from Onfido and Persona for identity and age verification during onboarding and random spot checks.

Article Topics

age verification  |  biometrics  |  face biometrics  |  New York City  |  Persona  |  selfie biometrics