The recent Minneapolis council decisions triggering Uber and Lyft’s departure in the various Twin Cities and Metro Areas will be bad for everyone: drivers will face unemployment, regular users with disabilities that require the service will be stranded, and some fear airport transportation will be an added obstacle to a flyers’ agenda.
Everyone has been there: they’re running late for a meeting, game, dinner, or flight, and their planned ride falls through. But don’t stress it — a ride is always available at the press of a button. Within five minutes, a friendly driver appears for a hasty arrival at the destination, maybe only two minutes late. For rideshare users with various disabilities preventing them from driving their own vehicles, this operation is often a more strategic and common routine. But on March 7, when the Minneapolis City Council overrode Mayor Jacob Frey’s veto and passed an ordinance that requires ridesharing companies to pay drivers a minimum rate of $1.40 per mile and $0.51 per minute, all rideshare accommodations became jeopardized.
For months, Lyft and Uber rideshare drivers have been dissatisfied with the companies and advocated a rate increase. Council members and those in agreement with the ordinance expressed that drivers, many of which are East African immigrants or workers of color, are exploited by the companies for cheap labor. Supporters say that their rate increase proposal will ensure that drivers are paid a minimum wage of $15.57 per hour. However, according to a state report on driver pay that came out hours after the council’s decisions, a rate of $0.89 per mile and $0.49 per minute would meet the same minimum wage requirement — a rate which Uber and Lyft have agreed to support.
Immediately after the Council’s decision, spokespeople from Uber jumped into the conversation and declared that Uber would terminate its ridesharing services in not only Minneapolis, but also Saint Paul and the surrounding Twin Cities metro area, effective May 1. Similarly, Lyft will follow their lead, but only in the city of Minneapolis.
While some believe that other companies will use this upheaval as an entrance into the Twin Cities rideshare industry, Governor Tim Walz, Frey, and the Federation for the Blind hold deep concerns. The Federation for the Blind worries that it could take significant time for other companies to get licensed and start providing services, given that the process takes time to acquire a license, pay the city a fee of $47,760, and carry out formal review. Because rideshare services are essential for those with disabilities who cannot drive, Lyft and Uber’s departure will affect them disproportionately.
Meanwhile, some rideshare drivers oppose the change because they make a sufficient amount of money through their job and fear unemployment.