May 5 (UPI) -- Lyft announced Thursday that it will return carpooling service to more cities this month.
The ride hailing service said in a statement its carpooling service, which it calls "shared rides," will roll out this month in San Francisco, San Jose, Denver, Las Vegas and Atlanta.
Carpooling, which launched in 2014 to allow riders to pay less than a standard ride by sharing the ride with someone else headed in the same direction, was suspended in 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic, but Lyft has started to phase the service back in since then.
Lyft previously returned carpooling to Philadelphia and Miami.
"As the country reopens, we want our most affordable ride option to be available to our riders," Lyft President and co-founder John Zimmer said in a statement.
At this time, shared rides are restricted to a maximum of two passengers.
The move comes amid a driver shortage and ongoing gas price hike.
In March, Lyft added a $0.55 fuel surcharge to each ride due to high gas prices, and its competitor, Uber , added a fuel surcharge of $0.45 or $0.55, depending on location, as well.
Uber also reached an agreement the same month to list New York City's yellow taxis on its app to ease Uber's driver shortage due to the higher gas prices.
Gas prices began rising with the loosening of COVID-19 restrictions and have been exacerbated by the Russia- Ukraine war since.