The Minneapolis City Council voted to overturn Mayor Frey’s veto on Thursday, passing a requirement for rideshare companies to pay their contractors a $15.75 minimum wage. Uber and Lyft both have announced that they will be ceasing operations in Minneapolis due to this development. 

Specifically, this new rule requires rideshare companies to pay $1.40 per mile and $0.51 per minute for time spent driving passengers. This metric does not include tips. When this goes into effect on May 1st, Uber and Lyft plan to have nothing to do with it.

In a far-left effort to get higher wages for their constituents, the Minneapolis City Council actually killed their chances for making any kind of income through these services. When you put too many regulations on the free market, businesses have no choice but to close up shop!

The Minnesota legislature tried passing a near identical proposal in 2023. In fact, almost every legislative democrat voted for it – despite threats from Uber and Lyft to pull out of the state entirely. Governor Walz vetoed the bill then, but that does not stop it from coming back this session.

Read the legislature’s 2023 bill here.

Minneapolis residents will need to think long and hard about what they want out of their city council. A lack of rideshare options in a big city only stands to hurt workers, which will come back to bite the politicians. If Democrats in St. Paul had their way, they would force Minneapolis’ misery on the whole state.

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