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Lyft's longest ever ride was a 639-mile drive from Colorado to Iowa

That's a $744 trip at standard Lyft rates.

Sean Keane Former Senior Writer
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Sean Keane
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Lyft Lounge at Sundance Film Festival 2018

Lyft has given 76 million rides to airports.

Isaac Brekken

Lyft celebrated its 1 billionth ride by revealing some fascinating stats from its six-year history.

The ride-hailing company on Tuesday highlighted the milestone in an enthusiastic blog post, and said its "team members will be personally surprising thousands of lucky drivers with a small gift of our appreciation."

That token turned out to be a free tank of gas for around 3,500 drivers across the US, a Lyft spokesperson revealed in an emailed statement.

The stats showed how riders used the service, with 76 million journeys to airports and 500,000 trips to Disneyland in Anaheim, California.

The longest ride in the company's short history was a 639-mile journey between Denver and Sioux City, Iowa. That'd cost $744 for a standard Lyft, according to EstimateFares.

People were in a hurry to get to bars for happy hour, with 88 million rides taken during this time and 2,500 of them were by a single rider. However, that figure is dwarfed by the most rides taken by a single rider: 9,000.

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Uber, Lyft's main rival, celebrated its 10 billionth ride in July, but has been around two more years and offers its service outside the US (unlike Lyft).

Lyft is ahead of Uber in at least one area, having rolled out dockless, rentable electric scooters in Santa Monica, California, on Monday. It's the second city where it offers the service, having brought scooters to Denver earlier this month -- perhaps the person going to Sioux City could have saved a little money by taking a scooter?

Uber has yet to move into the e-scooter market.

Among its 1 billion rides, Lyft has had 233 million shared rides, while 630,000 were taken with gift cards.

The company also has at least one very productive worker -- 31,000 rides were the most given by a single driver.

Night owls used the service more than early risers, with 153 million rides taken between 11 p.m. and 2 p.m. versus 97 million between 5 a.m. and 7 a.m.

Those using the service were eager to avoid the cold, with 47 percent of all rides being taken during the winter, Lyft's most popular season.

First published at 4:40 a.m. PT.
Updated at 7:26 a.m. PT: Adds Lyft statement on the free tanks of gas for drivers.

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