Minnesota Report
The Minneapolis City Council is preparing to reconsider their vote and subsequent veto override of Mayor Jacob Frey (DFL-Mpls). This about face is in response to political pressure being applied by ride share commuters, who are unwilling to wait for a company with a logo of a knight in shining white armor to enter the market, in the instance of a new service, which will meet their needs. The lack of faith by the consumer is not surprising, because when Uber came to town followed by Lyft, the quickly supplanted the taxi cab companies, but interestingly enough Yellow and Red and White cab companies still exist in addition to iHail.
As we have already argued something will rise to fill the void, and as we read from the Star Tribune as many as six companies are seeking to enter the market. One thing is clear, the standards established by the Minneapolis City Council, set this all in motion, but also, the duopoly of Uber/Lyft have created the situation. The percentage of ride share price gouging by these two ride share platforms is the main issue at hand. Now, we are hearing a magical 70% figure being bandied about, which is not the same conversation as prior.
If this is truly a capitalistic market, then increases in cost will be passed onto the consumer, the businesses will still flourish and there will be peace in the valley.
We can assure any ride share consumers this fact, there will be many drivers who will be available to provide transport, the question will be which app they are using. As is already the cast many drivers already provide shared service with Uber/Lyft and all this means is which one of the new apps will be able to provide higher compensation, have more flexible terms or provide the greatest amount of amenities to become the premium ride share service in the twin cities market, not to mention the rest of the state as well.
One interesting facet to the Strib’s Uber/Lyft potential competitor story was the reemergence of the name Elam Baer. He was on the campaign team including Leon Oistad which backed Republican endorsed candidate Jon Grunseth’s 1990 gubernatorial bid, until the “pool scandal” emerged and he withdrew two weeks before the election.