Delta miles are shifting from Lyft to Uber
But if you care about more than just perks, here's how these companies measure on Black equity.
It’s no surprise that many people choose their ride share company based on who is the cheapest, closest, or some other form of convenience in that moment. But, if you really want to maximize your usage, each ride share company offers additional perks that help to build brand loyalty.
Well, Lyft recently announced that a big perk is going away — their Delta Skymiles partnership is ending on April 7, 2025. This means that Lyft users who have connected their Delta accounts, will no longer earn Delta miles when they ride with Lyft.
Alternately, Uber will now be partnering with Delta starting this spring.
Lyft users, will you stay? For some, it may still come down to convenience, but we’re here to break down Black equity across Lyft and Uber (and Delta) from their most recent reporting, to help you make a more informed decision.
Disclaimer: The data is a look at the past and may not account for what is currently happening behind-the-scenes.
LYFT
Black Representation:
Total Workforce: Not Reported
Mid-Level/First Manager: Not Reported
Executive/Senior Manager Level: Not Reported
Corporate Leadership: 33.3% — Lyft’s CEO Davis Risher is biracial (African American).
Board of Directors: 10%
Supplier Diversity: Removed Supplier Inclusion Website
Culture & Policy:
Racial Pay Equity: Pay equity for corporate not reported, but they do have a driver Earnings Commitment:
Lyft's earnings commitment guarantees that a driver's weekly earnings will be at least 70% of passenger payments after external fees. If a driver's earnings are below 70% when the week ends, they’ll get paid an earnings adjustment to make up the difference. Earnings Commitment is available nationwide in the US.
Black Recruitment & Pipeline Initiatives: Not Reported
Black Employee Resource Group: UpLyft Forward
Skills-First Hiring (OneTen Coalition): No
Lyft collaborates with organizations like The Fortune Society to train individuals reentering the workforce—many of whom are Black—for bike mechanic roles in the Citi Bike program. According to Lyft, 118 graduates of this program have been hired, 48 of whom were hired in 2024.
Community Investments:
While Lyft’s 2024 Multimodal Report doesn’t explicitly name Black communities in its equity strategy, several of its transportation programs may be quietly delivering disproportionate benefits—especially in neighborhoods where Black residents have long faced systemic barriers to mobility and access.
Transportation as an Economic Equalizer
Lyft reports that 62% of monthly ebike riders do not own or lease a vehicle—a stat that hits different when you consider how many Black urban communities rely on public and alternative transit options. With 36% using bikes and scooters to commute to work and 43% for errands, these services don’t just promote convenience—they help close transportation gaps that can limit economic opportunity.
Serving Low-Income, High-Impact Neighborhoods
According to Lyft, 30% of its bikeshare stations are located in low-income areas, and in Chicago, 42% of Divvy stations serve those same neighborhoods. While the company doesn’t provide race-specific data, the overlap between income and race in many cities makes it clear: Black riders are likely a significant portion of this user base.
Access for Income-Eligible Riders
Lyft offers reduced-fare memberships for SNAP recipients and residents of affordable housing—populations where Black families are statistically overrepresented. 84% of these members don’t own a car, and 40% identify as people of color. These programs lower barriers to movement, which in turn, impacts access to work, school, healthcare, and more.
Partnering with Black-Led Community Organizations
In Chicago, Lyft has partnered with Streets Calling Bike Club, a Black-owned cycling group, to host events like Juneteenth rides that support Black-owned businesses and promote community wellness. The company has also provided free bikes for individuals without access, meeting both cultural and practical needs.
Mental Health, Safety & Environmental Justice
Initiatives like the Roll N Peace wellness rides target mental health and safety in communities with higher rates of violence—many of which are Black neighborhoods. Lyft’s shared micromobility model also has potential environmental benefits, with the company reporting that riders own nearly one million fewer vehicles as a result—reducing pollution in areas that often bear the brunt of environmental racism.
Black Racial Discrimination Claims:
No public claims found, although the ride share industry at large has had an issue with racial discrimination from drivers, riders, and pay equity.
UBER
Similar to trends we’re seeing across many industries, Uber recently deleted their 2024 Environmental, Social, and Governance report, but we were able to capture their efforts prior to deletion.
Black Representation:
Total Workforce: 8.2%
Mid-Level/First Manager: 4.2%
Executive/Senior Manager 7.4%
Corporate Leadership: 9.1%
Board of Directors: 9.1%
Supplier Diversity: Uber has external commitments, including supplier diversity initiatives, but specific spend data on Black-owned businesses is not provided.
Culture & Policy:
Racial Pay Equity: 99%
Uber also has an earnings guarantee for trips originating in California only:
The earnings guarantee benefit is only applicable for trips starting in the state of California in accordance with Proposition 22.
The earnings guarantee provides drivers and couriers with the ability to plan and earn with more confidence. Drivers and couriers in California are eligible to receive at a minimum, 120% of the minimum wage for their time on the platform, and compensation for expenses based on miles for drivers and couriers who use a passenger vehicle (including motorbikes).
Since drivers and couriers can drive and deliver across the state of California, please note that the applicable minimum wage may vary across trips if you start in different cities.
Black Recruitment & Pipeline Initiatives: Not Reported
Black Employee Resource Group: Black at Uber
Uber was a Gold Partner at AfroTech 2023 (Black tech conference), sending over 50 employees and executives. They also collaborated with JET magazine to highlight Black leaders and employees within.
Skills-First Hiring (OneTen Coalition): No
Uber uses skills-based hiring and leverages the Mansfield Rule to increase representation of underrepresented groups.
Community Investments:
Uber claims to have fulfilled 14 of its 15 racial equity commitments since 2020, though the specifics of these outcomes are not detailed in the ESG report.
Uber’s Equity Leadership Council oversees civil rights and racial equity strategies, with expanded focus areas including product equity and workplace inclusion
Uber Health launched a Maternal Health Access Research Project in Georgia, which may benefit Black women disproportionately, given maternal health disparities in that region. The Health Access Fund, in partnership with LISC, funded over 137,000 rides to improve healthcare access in underinvested communities across 22 U.S. cities.
Black Racial Discrimination Claims:
No public claims found, although the ride share industry at large has had an issue with racial discrimination from drivers, riders, and pay equity.
DELTA
Black Representation:
Total Workforce: 26.8%
Mid-Level/First Manager: 20.8%
Executive/Senior Manager 8.5%
Corporate Leadership: 0%
Board of Directors: 14.3%
Supplier Diversity: Delta has a supplier diversity program and is one of the few corporations that is transparent about not only their total supplier diversity spend, but also their Black supplier spend.
Supplier Diversity Spend: $2 Billion
Black Supplier Spend: $559 Million (28%)
Culture & Policy:
Racial Pay Equity: Not Reported
Delta is committed to ensuring all employees are compensated equitably for comparable duties, responsibilities and skills. Frontline employees are paid an hourly rate based on length of service in their respective roles, and all employees are informed of where they stand on the pay scale. We routinely benchmark against peer companies and conduct pay equity analyses for merit employees.
Black Recruitment & Pipeline Initiatives: Yes
Black Employee Resource Group: BOLD
Skills-First Hiring (OneTen Coalition): Yes
Community Investments:
Delta provides $1.6 million in financial aid annually to the UNCF, including $1 million for Emergency Retention Grants and Degree Completion Aid and $600,000 for HBCU scholarships.
The Delta Air Lines Foundation has awarded $2 million to the Arts at Spelman College to integrate the arts into STEM programs
Sponsored blood drives at 24 HBCUs to support the Red Cross HBCU Ambassador Leadership Program, which engages students in the Sickle Cell Initiative to help save lives through blood collection on HBCU campuses.
Elizabeth City State University in North Carolina recently became the second HBCU to join Delta’s Propel Collegiate Pilot Career Path Program. The program provides students from 16 post-secondary institutions with a defined, accelerated path to becoming a Delta pilot. Upon selection to the program, students receive a qualified job offer for a pilot position at Delta.
Engaging policy leaders on issues impacting the Black community at the annual legislative conference of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation in Washington, D.C.
Black Racial Discrimination Claims:
November 2023:
A Delta Air Lines employee claimed the company contradicts its own "Equal Justice Initiative" behind the scenes in a letter to her bosses.
Ramp worker Amanda Goodman Berry said she was on a flight as a paying customer when the plane’s monitors showed a video touting the company’s practices to promote diversity and inclusion.
"It was soul-crushing as my experience does not follow the words spoken to Delta passengers," Goodman Berry said. "[The job] comes with a lot of humiliation, retaliation, discrimination. It comes with being singled out. It comes with them making you feel like you don’t belong."
November 2024: Delta Sued by Black Ex-Worker for Discrimination, Retaliation (Bloomberg Law)
Overall:
BDI’s Verdict:
Lyft is losing its Delta partnership—and with it, a key loyalty perk. Uber is stepping in. But for consumers who care about more than convenience or points, this shift is an opportunity to evaluate how these companies show up for Black communities.
Lyft offers promising community-based programs and partnerships, but its lack of corporate transparency, 0% Black leadership, and removal of its supplier inclusion site raise serious concerns.
Uber demonstrates stronger internal Black representation and cultural engagement, but its recent rollback of public ESG reporting limits trust and visibility.
Delta stands out for its significant Black supplier spend and deep HBCU investments, but recent discrimination claims remind us that culture work must go deeper than PR and policy.
None of these companies are perfect—but data helps us make intentional choices.
If equity matters to you, look at the full picture. Then decide who’s earned your loyalty—not just your ride bookings.
Be informed.
The Black Dollar Initiative is the independent 501(c)(3) research and data hub that powers the Black Dollar Index. Your support goes towards researching, analyzing, and reporting on over 120 corporations across 20+ points of impact, that enable the Black Dollar Index to keep consumers informed. Donations are tax-deductible (EIN: 85-2383485).
Sources:
Uber 2024 ESG Report (404 Not Found Error) - Can be found unofficially on the internet.