Lyft Launches Tomorrow in the Greater Toronto Area

Driving in Toronto during rush hour will still be a headache, but a new ride-sharing option may at least help some users find a new option to get around.

The popular ride-hailing app Lyft has announced they will be live in Toronto tomorrow, December 12.

Up until then the service was only available in the U.S., but now ride-seekers can hail a car from anywhere in the GTA and Hamilton. In terms of how the GTA is defined, riders in between Hamilton and Oshawa will be included, as well as those as far north as Newmarket. The move to Canada was first announced in the middle of November this year.

“We’ve been looking forward to taking our brand of ridesharing international for some time, and we’re super pumped to share this with our close friends up north,” the company wrote in a blog when the expansion was first announced.

The official announcement will happen tomorrow morning at Airship 37, an event venue near Toronto’s distillery district. Lyft Toronto’s general manager Tim Houghton will turn on the service around 10 a.m. and the inaugural ride will feature Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Marcus Stroman as he heads to SickKids hospital to deliver holiday gifts.

At launch, there will be five different cars Torontonians can choose, ranging from regular vehicles all the way to a luxury black SUV.

Lyft will compete with Uber in the city, as up until now Uber was the primary ridesharing option without much real competition. There is other competition though, including Facedrive, a carbon-neutral option.

Uber has face a lot of controversies this year, from its founder stepping down to the recent hacking allegations that were not immediately disclosed to the public. Lyft may offer those who have wanted to stray away from Uber a new option.