Lyft Inc. plans to reduce its physical office space in its biggest US markets as the ride-hailing company adapts to a largely remote workforce.

The San Francisco-based company will sublease a portion of its corporate offices in San Francisco, New York City, Seattle and Nashville, according to a person familiar with the matter, who requested anonymity because the plan is private. About 44 per cent of the combined 615,000 square feet in office space will be rented out to other businesses. 

The move follows Lyft’s decision to implement a permanent “fully flexible” policy in March, letting employees choose where to work and live. 

“While we continue to believe that in-person connections are important, many of our team members opted to work remotely after we shifted to a flexible workplace strategy,” a spokeswoman said in an emailed statement. Lyft said it “identified a significant amount of office space that isn’t being utilized the way it previously was.”