Lyft lists Baltimore’s ridesharing hotspots

A year after growth that prompted Lyft to stand up an office in Baltimore city, the ridesharing company continued to expand its presence on the streets of the city in 2017.
The ridesharing company “more than doubled” the number of rides it provided during the year. (The company won’t release exact figures).
While it wasn’t quite the 8x growth that Baltimore Market Manager Mike Heslin reported in 2016, it shows the company continues to build market share as it races to outmaneuver competitors like Uber. A $500 million boost added to the company’s latest funding round on Tuesday should also help.
One source of the gains may be a bigger local presence from the San Francisco–based company. Lyft established an on-the-ground office near Penn Station, and is looking to work with spots to create designated pickup and dropoff zones.
“We are very much in partnership building mode locally,” Heslin told us in September.
We’ve also seen more outreach to the tech community, such as a fireside chat between Heslin and Maryland Tech Council CEO Tami Howie at TEDCO’s Entrepreneur Expo in October.

Lyft rides grew 8x in Baltimore in a year in 2016, leading company to stand up local team, says Baltimore Market Mgr Mike Heslin #e2e2017 pic.twitter.com/BinpLVQTet

— Technical.ly Baltimore (@TechnicallyBMR) October 25, 2017

Another reason could be the growing number of places to get a ride. That’s represented in the Lyftie Awards, which the company hands out to ID the most visited spots in a city. R. House earned the title for Most Visited Restaurant on the list, and the recently-opened Sagamore Pendry hotel in Fells Point got the nod for “Trending Destination.”
Here’s the full list of top destinations, per the company:

• Most Visited Restaurant: R.House
• Most Visited Bar: Max’s Taphouse
• Most Visited Event Venue: Royal Farms Arena
• Most Visited University: Towson University
• Only In Baltimore: Lexington Market
• Trending Destination: Sagamore Pendry