Star Tribune
New minimum pay kicks in for Minnesota rideshare drivers
Rideshare drivers across Minnesota got a pay raise Sunday when a new law governing minimum wages kicked in, and it comes after local Uber and Lyft drivers pushed for nearly two years to get better compensation and job protection.
The new rates could also bring up to a 25% increase in trip fees for riders, Uber spokeswoman Freddi Goldstein said in an email, “though pricing is always subject to change,” she said.
State law now requires rideshare companies to pay drivers $1.28 per mile and an additional 31 cents per minute while passengers are in the vehicle. Drivers will receive a minimum of $5 per trip and 80% of any cancellation fee charged to riders who call off a trip after a driver is on the way to pick them up. On top of that, rideshare drivers will also earn extra pay if transporting a rider in a wheelchair-accessible vehicle.
Tips are not included in the minimum pay calculations.
Under the law, rideshare drivers have the potential to make more money, a much as 20% more, DFL Leaders said in the spring before the legislation passed. But not all drivers are convinced they will.
A provision in the law allows Transportation Network Companies (TNCs) to average a driver’s earnings over a two week period, and pay them the minimum on that average. If a driver’s average is below the mandated rate, the companies will provide a “top off” payment to bring drivers up to the minimum pay, according to a posting on Uber’s blog.
That does not sit well with some metro area drivers.
The law “is absolutely not beneficial to the drivers,” said Prince Lee, who drives for both Uber and Lyft in the Twin Cities area. “We need $1.28 paid straight for every ride.”
Officials on Monday released the identity of the passenger who was fatally shot last week on a Green Line light rail train in St. Paul.
Sharif Darryl Walker-El, Jr., 33, was shot while on a westbound train as it neared the Hamline Avenue Station, according to Metro Transit.
Walker-El, who court records indicate last lived in St. Paul, was taken by emergency responders to a hospital, where he died, Metro Transit said.
No arrests have been announced as of late Monday afternoon.
Data presented to the Met Council in Nov. 6 reported an 8.4% decline in total reported crime in the first three quarters of 2024 compared with the same period last year. The agency said the most serious crimes, including homicide, were down 14.5% in that same time span.
Friday’s shooting was the second in nine days on the Green Line in St. Paul. On the night of Nov. 21, a woman was shot in the leg while on the train and taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
Since 2017, five people have been killed and three wounded in shootings at light-rail stations in Minneapolis and St. Paul, including a double homicide at St. Paul’s Central Station in 2022 and a shooting in May that left one man dead at the Dale Street Station.
Staff writer Christopher Snowbeck contributed to this report.
Officials on Monday identified the man who was shot to death on Thanksgiving Day in Minneapolis.
Mohamed Yusuf Mohamed, 21, of St. Paul, was shot in the head Thursday at an at an apartment in the 700 block of Emerson Avenue N. and died that same day at HCMC, according to the Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office.
Police said the person who they believed fired the shot had already fled. No arrests have been announced.
In a statement, Police Chief Brian O’Hara called the shooting a “senseless act of violence.”
The chief added that “our investigators are focused on seeking justice for the victim and are asking anyone who knows what happened or has any information about this incident to contact us immediately.”
There have been 73 homicides in the city so far this year, according to a Star Tribune database. That compares to 62 at this time last year.
Anyone with information about last week’s shooting is urged to call CrimeStoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477) or submit tips at www.CrimeStoppersMN.org/.
MANKATO – Patti Loso’s candle flickered in the bitter winter wind as she asked the crowd for a moment of silence. Her 19-year-old son, Jack, was killed in a landslide one year ago in Minneopa State Park.
“For if you always think of me, I will never have gone,” Patti Loso said, quoting a funeral poem by Margaret Mead, at a vigil on Saturday overlooking the waterfall where her son died.
Patti, 57, and her husband Robert Loso, 56, said they blame the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources for negligence leading to their son’s death.
“How could they allow this to happen?” Patti Loso said in a recent phone call. “It’s a failure of their system to not have the means in place to adequately inform and warn people.”
The Robbinsdale couple said they plan to file a lawsuit against the DNR within the next month. They claim state officials were negligent in warning park visitors about the risks of landslides in the area. Their lawyer Jeff Storms, based in Minneapolis, said he plans to serve the lawsuit soon.
The DNR in a statement said the Losos via their family’s attorney have filed a notice of intent to file a claim. “Given the clear potential for litigation we cannot comment further at this time,” Gail Nosek, DNR communications director, said Monday morning.
“Our thoughts and condolences continue to be with the family and loved ones of Jack Loso following this tragic loss,” the DNR statement said.
Minneopa State Park is a 58-acre recreational area just outside of Mankato, with two waterfalls. Jack Loso, a student at Minnesota State Mankato, visited the park with his sister and cousin on Dec. 2, 2023. He walked down a trail to the base of the lower waterfall, and then the sandstone cliff above him collapsed and buried him.
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