Lyft, the ride-sharing app founded in 2012, is one of the most popular ways to get around. But where are people going? Now we know, thanks to Lyft's second annual "Lyftie Awards," which were announced today. The awards highlighted Lyft's most popular destinations, including restaurants, bars, hotels, transit stops, event venues, and more.
Airports were the No. 1 drop-off category, with Lyft being available at 96 airports, according to Mashable. People in San Francisco particularly Lyft a lot to the city's airport, San Francisco International Airport (SFO), which was the most popular airport destination of the year.
The most visited restaurant by Lyft users? It wasn't in New York City, Washington, D.C., or Los Angeles. It was in Nashville—ACME Feed & Seed, a 22,000 square-foot restaurant covering four floors, known for their tacos, brisket, biscuits, live music, and more. If you're in Tennessee and need to grub, that's apparently the place to be.
But once your stomach is settled, you can head to The Abbey in Los Angeles, which was the most popular bar among Lyft users in 2016. And, for the record, it was Lyft's most visited bar back in 2015 as well, so if you're in L.A. you should probably hit up the iconic gay bar.
Need place to stay? Las Vegas' MGM Grand Hotel was the most visited hotel of 2016, perhaps just as a place to crash, but probably because of the hotel's wide variety of attractions, such as award-winning restaurants like Morimoto, or nightclub Hakkasan (often rocked by Tiësto) or Cirque du Soleil’s KÀ.
If you're using Lyft for separate lift, the app's most visited transit stop was Union Station in Washington, D.C., home of Amtrack's headquarters.
The top tourist destination was Chicago's iconic Navy Pier on the shoreline of Lake Michigan. Chicago's famous 50-acre attraction is 100 years old, and offers shops, gardens, restaurants, rainbow ice cream cones, the Chicago Shakespeare Theater, and more.
Those are Lyft's top destinations nationwide, but they also gave out Lyfties for 24 local areas, from Los Angeles to Las Vegas to Denver to Dallas-Fort Worth to Nashville to New York City to Miami, and more.
Sports destinations seem to be popular among Lyft users. For example, Wrigley Field, the legendary home of the Cubs, was the most visited event venue in Chicago; the TD Garden, where the Bruins and the Celtics play, was the most visited event venue in Boston; the Atlanta Hawks' home court, Philips Arena, was the most popular event venue in town; Dallas-Fort Worth's most visited event venue was the American Airlines Center, where the Mavs and the Stars play. No offense to the New York Rangers and the Knicks, but Madison Square Garden was behind the Barclays Center, home of the Nets and the Islanders, which was NYC's most popular event venue. Arenas and stadiums were also popular in Miami, Baltimore, the Twin Cities, Seattle, San Diego, Sacramento, Philadelphia, and more.
On the other hand, D.C.'s most visited event venue was the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
In a statement, Lyft wrote that their app "generated more than $750 million in extra spending in local economies." David Cooley, the founder and CEO of The Abbey (the most popular bar overall) explained, "We see Lyft cars in front of The Abbey and our new club, The Chapel, all night, every night. Lyft has made things so much more convenient and safe for our guests that we are currently working with the City of West Hollywood to install a permanent drop-off point directly in-front of The Abbey."
You can read the full list of Lyftie winners here.
