Star Tribune
MSP officials nervously contemplate loss of Uber, diminished Lyft service at airport
Fresh off a plane from Detroit for a business trip, Ray Bryant glanced frequently at his phone while waiting for an Uber at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport last week. When asked about the possibility of Uber leaving the Twin Cities market due to a labor dispute, his response was swift.
“That would be bad,” he said.
Bryant was one of the nearly 3,000 ridesharing requests originating from Terminal 1 every day, as Uber and Lyft service have largely replaced the taxi industry at MSP since their debut eight years ago.
Those arriving and departing from MSP would be among the hardest hit in Minnesota should the San Francisco-based ridesharing service depart on May 1. Its rival Lyft has said it will continue service at the airport but wouldn’t ferry customers to Minneapolis, the biggest city in the state.
The threat comes after the Minneapolis City Council adopted an ordinance earlier this month setting minimum pay requirements for rideshare drivers at an amount both Uber and Lyft say is too high. Faced with blowback, the council may now revise the ordinance, although it’s unclear whether it will be to the ridesharing giants’ liking.
Officials at the Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC), which runs the airport, find the prospect of an imminent departure deeply unsettling. “Thousands of people rely on ridesharing services to and from the airport every day,” said MAC Chair Rick King. “We are concerned if these services are curtailed. We are hopeful for a positive resolution.”
Of the 18 million rides provided by Uber and Lyft to Minnesota passengers in 2022, more than 11 million served MSP, according to a report prepared by two economists for the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry. Roughly two-thirds of all metro- and statewide trips either started or ended at the airport, proving MSP was by far the preeminent destination in the state.
“Both Uber and Lyft are woven into city life like running water, electricity and WiFi,” said Henry Harteveldt, a San Francisco-based travel industry analyst. “We expect them to be available to us.” And if they’re not, “it could have a real impact on the way people view the Twin Cities.”
Ironically, the airport just opened a new $1.2 million Ground Transportation Center in December. Located on the first level of the Green and Gold parking ramps of the main terminal, the new facility will accommodate double the number of ridesharing vehicles, regional and hotel shuttles, limousines, and taxis.
When MAC officials adopted new rules for ridesharing companies in 2016, the emotional public hearings pitted Uber and Lyft drivers who represented the emerging gig economy against taxi operators.
As it turned out, ridesharing firms emerged to dominate the airport transportation market. Currently, there are 6,950 Uber permits and 5,361 Lyft permits registered with the MAC, compared to 244 for taxicabs.
Ridesharing has emerged as a steady and growing source of revenue for the MAC, which collected about $9.7 million from operators last year.
If ridesharing services disappear or decline at MSP, people could park in one of nine parking ramps at both terminals. But demand fluctuates at these facilities — on Thursday as spring break began in earnest, parking ramps at Terminals 1 and 2 were more than 75% full, and the cheapest daily rate at the value parking ramp was $23.
Public transportation also serves the airport, including the Blue Line light rail, Metro Transit’s Route 54 bus, and Minnesota Valley Transit Authority and Southwest Transit buses from the suburbs.
On Wednesday afternoon, before spring break travelers and a snowstorm descended on MSP, the Ground Transportation Center was busy mostly with ridesharing customers staring anxiously at phones and approaching vehicles.
If Uber leaves, “it will make it more inconvenient,” said Minneapolis resident Michael Nicholls, while waiting for his ride. “Uber makes everything very convenient, although I’m a huge advocate for public transit. If they leave, we will adapt.”
“I have done everything in my power to remedy this situation, and it continues to get more and more violent by the day,” Moturi wrote. “There have been numerous times when I’ve seen Sawchak outside and contacted law enforcement, and there was no response. I am not confident in the pursuit of Sawchak given that Sawchak attacked me, MPD officers had John detained, and despite an HRO and multiple warrants — they still let him go.”
On Friday, five City Council members sent a letter to Mayor Jacob Frey and Police Chief Brian O’Hara expressing their “utter horror at MPD’s failure to protect a Minneapolis resident from a clear, persistent and amply reported threat posed by his neighbor.”
Council Members Andrea Jenkins, Elliott Payne, Aisha Chughtai, Jason Chavez and Robin Wonsley went on to allege that police had failed to submit reports to the County Attorney’s Office despite threats being made with weapons, and at times while Sawchak screamed racial slurs. Sawchak is white and Moturi is Black.
The council members also contend in their letter that the MPD told the County Attorney’s Office that police did not intend to execute the warrant for “reasons of officer safety.”
At a Friday afternoon news conference at MPD’s Fifth Precinct, O’Hara said police had been working to arrest Sawchak since at least April, but “no Minneapolis police officers have had in-person contact with that suspect since the victim in this case has been calling us.” The chief pointed out that Sawchak is mentally ill, has guns and refuses to cooperate “in the dozens of times that police officers have responded to the residence.”
O’Hara put aside the option to carry out “a high-risk warrant based on these factors [and] the likelihood of an armed, violent confrontation where we may have to use deadly force with the suspect.” The preference, he said, was to arrest Sawchak outside his home, but “in this case, this suspect is a recluse and does not come out of the house.”
ROCHESTER – The Federal Transit Administration has green-lighted an $85 million grant supporting the development of the city’s planned Link Bus Rapid Transit system.
The FTA formally announced the grant on Friday during a ceremonial check presentation outside of the Mayo Civic Center, one of the seven stops planned for the bus line. The federal grant will cover about 60% of the project’s estimated $143.4 million price tag, with the remaining funds coming from Destination Medical Center, the largest public-private development project in state history.
Set to go live in 2026, the 2.8-mile Link system will connect downtown Rochester, including Mayo Clinic’s campuses, with a proposed “transit village” that will include parking, hundreds of housing units and a public plaza. The bus line will be the first of its kind outside the Twin Cities — with service running every five minutes during peak hours.
“That means you may not even need to look at a schedule,” said Veronica Vanterpool, deputy administrator for the FTA. “You can just show up at your transit stop and expect the next bus to come in a short time. That is a game changer and a life-transformational experience in transit for those people who are using it and relying on it.”
The planned Second Street corridor is already one of the busiest roads in Rochester, carrying more than 21,800 vehicles a day, and city planners have talked for years about ways to reduce traffic congestion in the city’s downtown. Local officials estimate that the transit line, which will rely on a fleet of all-electric buses, will handle 11,000 riders on its first day of operation and save eight city blocks of parking.
Speaking to a crowd of about 100 people gathered on Friday, Sen. Amy Klobuchar said the project shows Rochester is thinking strategically about how it handles growth.
“If you just plan the business expansion, and you don’t have the workforce, you don’t have the child care, the housing or the transit, it’s not going to work very well as a lot of communities across the nation have found,” Klobuchar said.
A St. Paul man who was in critical condition following a fire last week at his home in the Battle Creek neighborhood has died, marking the city’s eighth fire death this year.
According to a news release from the St. Paul Fire Department, the man was found unconscious in the basement of a house on Nelson Street early in the morning of Oct. 17, after fire crews had extinguished a fire at the two-story residence. Paramedics undertook life-saving measures before taking him to the hospital.
No one else was injured in the fire, which was found to have been accidental and started in the engine of a car parked in the tuck-under garage. The fire was confined to the garage, but heavy smoke filled the house. Smoke detectors enabled others in the house to exit safely, officials said.
