Uber One is dropping ride discounts, and it could send me straight into the arms of Lyft

I feel like the offices of Lyft are just party city today.

As reported by TechCrunch, Uber is apparently dropping one of the benefits from its Uber One subscription service. Right now, users who are subscribed to the service get 5% off all of the rides that they take. It’s a tentpole feature of Uber One but, according to the report, that benefit is going away starting next week.

Instead of a five percent discount on rides, subscribers will instead start to earn six percent in “Uber Cash” on eligible rides that can be used on either Uber or Uber Eats. While this means that subscribers will technically earn more, it’ll make using that benefit a little more complicated.

Since Uber launched Uber One in 2021 for $9.99 per month or $99.99 annually, discounts on rides have been a huge adoption driver. According to Uber’s full-year earnings report, Uber One memberships grew 100% in 2022 to roughly 12 million members. While Uber can increase its profit margins by switching to a cash back offer, it also faces the possibility of losing customers who are in it for the discounts.

That complication has at least one subscriber considering canceling the service, saying that “I only subscribed for the discounted rides, so I’ll go ahead and cancel now.” I’m sure Lyft will be waiting with open arms for people like that as its Lyft Pink subscription service still offers 5% off all eligible rides.

Thankfully, the other benefits of Uber One will remain, including $0 on delivery fees for Uber Eats and 10% off eligible Uber Eats orders. It’s honestly still a great offering, especially since you get $0 delivery fees for eligible orders forever as opposed to just one year of Grubhub+ with Lyft.

For me, neither will get my money since I rarely require the need of ride-sharing services in my area. We’re a DoorDash family. The news comes about a week after it was announced that Uber will now let you book a Waymo self-driving car through its app.