Lyft drops its signature furry pink moustache for brand new glowstache

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Ride-sharing taxi app and Uber rival Lyft has decided to drop one of its most distinctive features.

Lyft drivers have been easy to spot ever since they rolled on to the streets of San Francisco three years ago thanks to the large pink moustaches displayed on the front of their cars.

Lyft drivers have been sporting the novel item in the 65 US cities where the company operates. Instead of the giant furry moustache, Lyft drivers will soon receive a "glowstache". The glowstache is a plastic moustache about the size of a banana and will be placed on the driver's dashboard to glow at night.

Wired reports that Lyft drivers will get their new glowstaches at the end of January. Explaining the re-brand, Lyft president John Zimmer told Wired: "If you were going to an important business meeting, it might not be the best way to roll up."

The new moustache will be subtle, and a little more grown-up than its furry predecessor. Design Studio Ammunition was drafted in to help Lyft develop its branding. Robert Brunner, Ammunition's founder, said:

Trying to productise an identity – turning any identity into an object that has function is not an easy thing to do. And in a way, we were maturing the icon, but we didn’t want to mature it. So that’s real tricky.

Lyft's pink moustache was something of a polarising force. People either found it endearing and fun or thought it was just plain weird. Jesse McMillian, Lyft's creative director, explained to Wired that "people were either like, 'I love it', or 'I never want to get in a car like that'".