Good Riddance

The Minneapolis City Council has overridden the mayor's veto of a minimum wage for Uber and Lyft, with the companies threatening to leave the area in response.

Let's be clear here:  Forming a non-profit or worker cooperative ride sharing is not difficult, one need only look at ATX Coop and the late and lamented RideAustin in Austin, Texas.

The difficult part is creating a cadre of Gypsy cab drivers, and Uber and Lyft have already done the heavy lifting on this, thanks to heavy infusions of venture capital.

Creating the app?  Not difficult at all:

Dismissing Uber and Lyft’s threats to leave the city, the Minneapolis City Council voted 10-3 to override a mayoral veto of minimum pay rates for drivers.

The vote on Thursday sets up a six-week standoff between the progressive City Council and two tech giants, with Uber saying it will end service in the entire Twin Cities metro area when the rates take effect on May 1. Lyft says it will end service in Minneapolis when it takes effect.

Driver activists in the council chambers cheered after the vote was called in celebration of a significant victory after three disappointing vetoes in the past year — one by Gov. Tim Walz and two by Mayor Jacob Frey.

“It has been a rough journey… Thank God to the City Council members and all the elected officials who listened to me,” said Eid Ali, president of the Minnesota Uber/Lyft Drivers Association, at a news conference after the vote.

The veto override sends the pitched political conflict back to the state Capitol, where legislators began hearings on a bill this week that would set statewide rates, after Walz vetoed a bill last year.

Both Frey and Walz said they support raising wages for drivers but have been more sensitive to the companies’ warnings that pushing rates too high could backfire and cause demand to sink and the companies to pull up stakes.

The technical term for the arguments that Frey and Walz are making is, "Bullsh%$."

If the companies leave, someone will fill in the void, and chances are that they will be less psychopathic than either of the two largest ride sharing giants.

Let them go.