Star Tribune
Minneapolis Uber and Lyft drivers say they’ll start their own rideshare co-op
A group of activist Uber and Lyft drivers on Friday announced a campaign to start a driver-owned rideshare co-op, with the goal of filling the void that would be left if the two rideshare giants make good on their vow to leave next month.
Myriad questions remain about whether the venture could actually be up and running — and at what scale — by May 1, the effective date of a Minneapolis driver-pay requirement that has prompted the companies to announce it won’t be worth their while to do business in the city. Uber has said it will cease operations in the entire seven-county metro area, while Lyft says it will pull out of Minneapolis proper.
Friday’s announcement — by the same group of activist drivers that pushed for the minimum-pay requirements for more than a year — is just one possibility in a parade of ventures flooding the Twin Cities since the two app-based companies announced they would leave. A number of those operations have said they would comply with Minneapolis’ new ordinance.
But the co-op endeavor has the blessing of the Minnesota Uber and Lyft Drivers Association (MULDA), a group of drivers that’s won allies among the City Council members who overrode Mayor Jacob Frey’s veto of the driver-pay ordinance, along with a number of legislators pushing for a statewide minimum pay law.
MULDA officials said Friday they’ll support any new rideshare operations that treat drivers fairly. But they held Friday’s news conference, peppered with applause from roughly two dozen drivers, to announce this particular effort.
The co-op plan carries at at least two other distinctions that could prove advantageous:
- The idea is based on a 12,000-driver-strong co-op that has operated in New York City for three years. A co-founder of that organization — the Drivers Cooperative, which operates the Co-op Ride app — flew into town to pledge his support for the effort here.
- Having no corporate shareholders, or lacking the air of a global capitalist venture, might endear the effort to those who have grown skeptical of Uber and Lyft, publicly traded companies that recently became profitable.
“It’s the beginning of a new era of justice in the rideshare industry,” MULDA President Eid Ali said, adding that the hope is for the co-op to eventually serve the entire state.
The effort has a long way to go and a lot of money to raise. Uber and Lyft each spend millions annually in state-mandated insurance alone. Erik Forman, a co-founder of the Drivers Cooperative, estimated that $200,000 would be needed to get a local co-op off the ground, “at a bare minimum.”
First, he said, the local market needs to demonstrate there’s an appetite. Forman and Ali sketched out a two-pronged campaign: get drivers and riders signed up, and gin up investors.
They urged prospective riders to download the New York-based Co-op Ride app and register with their Minnesota information. They also encouraged drivers to do the same with the Co-op Driver app; Forman said some 200 drivers had registered as of Friday afternoon. The more riders and drivers sign up, the more viable the endeavor will appear, they said.
What it takes
While rideshare companies face lower barriers to entry than taxi companies, they’re still regulated by state statutes and local codes in cities such as Minneapolis and St. Paul, as well as the Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC).
Here are some of the requirements that startups face in order to handle a ride between Minneapolis and Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, the most common ride taken in the state.
Licenses: Obtaining a license to operate in Minneapolis will likely take a few weeks after an application has been submitted that meets all of the city’s requirements. Drivers also need to get a license from the MAC.
Insurance: In addition to each driver needing to carry insurance, state law requires a series of insurance policies for each driver that are purchased by the rideshare company. Topping the menu: $1.5 million in liability coverage.
Criminal background checks: Drivers must clear a criminal background check, paid for by the rideshare company using the driver.
Vehicle inspection: Every vehicle must be inspected for basic roadworthiness and safety.
Also attending Friday’s news conference was Mustafah Sheikh, who announced he hoped to locally launch his ride-hailing app, Hich, before May 1. Hich, which operates in some parts of Canada and Africa, is different from Hitch, a long-distance ride rideshare company.
Here are some of the other ventures that have indicated a desire to come to the Twin Cities: MOOV, Empower, Pikapp, Wridz, Revo and Teleport.
“Reaching 100,000 passengers in less than six months is a testament to the good things that can happen when we provide a service that is needed,” said MnDOT Commissioner Nancy Daubenberger. “We are very excited to reach this milestone and look forward to strengthening our partnerships with communities, as well as federal, state and local governments, and Amtrak to continue providing a safe, reliable, and sustainable transportation option.”
“Both are discovering who they are,” said stage manager and Armstrong senior Katie Spickelmier. The play reflects the “struggle of growing up in a society you don’t really fit into.”
Cast members are challenged with embodying beloved iconic characters while creating their own personal versions of them — while speaking their lines in British accents.
“Trying to put yourself in a whole different dialect is definitely a fun challenge for all of us — and trying to keep it appropriate and not silly,” Smallacombe said.
And then, of course, as with everything Harry Potter-related, there’s all the magic the production’s tech team has had to figure out how to depict without the benefit of Hollywood’s computer-generated special effects. They include the machinations of the time machine, a character shooting out of a fireplace, characters flying above the stage.
Lovitt and other staffers traveled to New York to see how Broadway pulled it off. It debuted there in 2018 as a five-hour play performed in two parts (and remains that length in the London production). It was later edited to a one-part version at three and a half hours, and in November will be presented on Broadway in under three hours (which is the version playing in Chicago). The high school version is even shorter, closer to two hours.
Actors from “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” rehearse a scene at Armstrong High School in Plymouth. The 40-scene play has a cast of more than 30 students. (Renée Jones Schneider)
Of course, Broadway, like Hogwarts, has access to magical elements not generally available to Midwestern high schools. For example, she said, there was a whole swimming pool directly under the stage, which cast members reached via a tunnel, wearing scuba gear and emerging soaking wet.
A St. Paul woman faces a felony charge for allegedly stealing a sheep from a local farm in Bloomington, according to court documents.
Mandy Kay Bower, 42, was arrested at Old Shakopee Road E. in Bloomington Saturday evening after officers saw her and a male walking with a dog and a sheep on a leash.
According to police, Bower told officers that she purchased the sheep for $200. However, one of the officers noticed burs, a prickly plant found in fields, all over Bower and the sheep.
The male with Bower told officers she stepped over the fence of a farm, put a leash on one of the sheep and pulled it through the fence, according to the charging document. Bower pulled so hard that the sheep was choking, the male told officers, according to the document.
The officers eventually spoke to an employee and owner of the nearby farm and confirmed that the sheep, a breeding hair ram worth approximately $500, had not been sold to Bower, according to court documents.
Bower is charged with rustling and livestock theft. In a booking photo, Bower appears to have a tattoo of a sheep covering her left cheek.
