Tina Bellon

(Reuters.) – Post-pandemic consumers were eager to enjoy normality and swung at higher prices in an effort not to cut back on their consumption. Lyft Inc (NASDAQ:), is riding in the first-quarter, with Tuesday’s surpassing of revenue expectations and operating earnings.

Lyft said that it could charge more for drivers and Lyft passengers than it did a year ago. According to Lyft, active riders decreased from quarter one. This is due to lower temperatures and the end of the year holidays.

Lyft President John Zimmer told Reuters that the pandemic’s tailwind was more important than inflation for his business.

According to data from Refinitiv, Lyft’s first quarter revenue was $875.6 Million, which beat average analyst expectations of $846 millions.

Operating earnings of $54.8million, also known as adjusted EBITDA (which excludes stock-based pay and other costs), significantly exceeded analyst and company guidance. After Lyft’s guidance of $15 million, analysts had predicted $17.8m in adjusted EBITDA.

Lyft CEOs have spoken repeatedly about Lyft’s pricing power. Zimmer anticipates that this trend will continue, even as prices rise for many goods and services in the future.

Zimmer indicated that they will monitor it but are confident about their ability to balance the supply and demand.

According to YipitData, the average U.S. ride prices for Lyft (NYSE:) Inc and Uber Technologies (NYSE 🙂 Inc in March were 37% more than in the same month of 2019. Uber will report its results Wednesday, after the bell.

Zimmer claimed that demand in general was 30% less than it was at the beginning of the year, which gave the company “quite some headroom.”

Zimmer stated that the number of drivers increased 40% by the end of the year, with many leaving during the pandemic.

Zimmer stated that overall drivers numbers remain below levels pre-pandemic and that a complete recovery of driver supply took longer than Lyft expected. Uber and Lyft tried to attract drivers back with additional incentives in the recent quarters.

In addition to the rising costs of fuel, drivers have been forced by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to either stop driving entirely or take a reduced number.

Uber and Lyft both have a temporary fuel surcharge as a way to support drivers.