Minnesota Legislature approves minimum wage for Uber and Lyft drivers

[progree]

Thanks RandySF for the General Discusssion thread

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100217934134

https://minnesotareformer.com/2023/05/21/minnesota-legislature-approves-minimum-wage-for-uber-and-lyft-drivers/

It's passed the House and Senate, so it's up to Gov. Walz to sign it. The article says:

Gov. Tim Walz has been decidedly non-committal about signing the bill, saying just a few hours before the Senate vote that “there’s a long ways to go yet.”

... The bill requires transportation network companies, including Uber and Lyft, to pay drivers a $5 minimum fee plus $1.45 per mile and $0.34 per minute in the seven-county Twin Cities metropolitan area.

Drivers in greater Minnesota would be entitled to $1.25 per mile and $0.34 per minute. The minimum rates would increase with inflation.

There's a LOT more details in the minnesotareformer article.

I don't know if this is the right way to do it, but to price out some trips, I went to maps.google.com and clicked on the Directions icon and then the car icon and entered a start and a destination address, and it told me how many miles and how many minutes under current traffic conditions. And then I used the formula (for metro area):

Cost = (5 + 1.45 * miles + 0.34 * minutes) * 1.20

The " * 1.20 " is to add a 20% tip (to be clear, nothing about tips in the legislation).

Later -- Oh, duh. This is what the driver gets. Uber/Lyft is going to want a bunch more on top of that. I have no idea what that might amount to.

Edited to add: "Drivers will get a minimum of $5 per trip," - this from https://kstp.com/kstp-news/local-news/rideshare-worker-protection-bill-awaits-walzs-ok/

If so, the $5 in my above formula isn't an adder, but a minimum, so my formula should be:

1.45 * miles + 0.34 * minutes
#or#
$5

whichever is greater

+ Uber/Lyft's add-on + tips.