It may be harder to get around Minneapolis after Lyft and Uber said they were ready to leave the city.
On Thursday, the Minneapolis City Council voted to raise drivers’ wages to the local minimum wage for the city, which is $15.57 an hour.
But that’s been too much for ride-sharing companies, which are now threatening to leave town due to a new minimum wage implementation that will force them to pay drivers a flat rate.
The decision comes after the City Council voted 10-3 to veto the city’s mayor to institute a pay raise ordinance for the city’s drivers.
“It should be done honestly so as to keep the service accessible to riders,” Lyft said in a statement. “This ordinance makes our operations unsustainable and, as a result, we will close operations in Minneapolis when the law goes into effect on May 1.”
Related: Lyft becomes first rideshare company to implement minimum wage for drivers
Uber released a similar statement provided to the local outlet Fox 9.
“We are disappointed that the Council chose to ignore the data and kick Uber out of the Twin Cities, putting 10,000 people out of work and leaving many stranded,” the company said. “But we know that by working together with all stakeholders – drivers, passengers and state leaders – we can achieve comprehensive legislation at the state level that guarantees drivers a fair minimum wage, protects their independence and keeps rideshare affordable.”
Related: DoorDash, Uber Eats add new fees in New York to offset costs
Last month, Lyft became the first ride-share app to implement minimum pay for drivers by ensuring that drivers take home a minimum of 70% of what they pay, regardless of outside fees.
“We think this will hopefully bring more drivers to Lyft, but it will also make the entire industry stronger,” said David Risher, Lyft’s CEO. Reuters at the moment. “We have more drivers now than we have had, I think, since the middle of 2019. It’s strong and I tell you what, it’s getting even stronger.”
If Uber left Minneapolis, the city would become the only U.S. metropolitan area without Uber in the country.
Uber was up a whopping 140% year-over-year after Friday morning’s news. Lyft grew more than 93% for the same period and over the same period.