How many taxi cabs are left in Minneapolis?

Uber’s entry a decade ago caused an astonishing collapse of the local taxi industry.

The Minnesota Star Tribune
March 18, 2024 at 9:13PM
Most taxi dowtown taxi cabs had credit card logos posted on their vehicles in downtown Minneapolis, Friday, January 13, 2012. Minneapolis City Council passed an ordinance requiring taxi cabs to take credit cards, effective June 1. (ELIZABETH FLORES/STAR TRIBUNE) ELIZABETH FLORES � eflores@startribune.com
Taxi cabs lined up in downtown Minneapolis, in 2012. Numbers have since plummeted. (Star Tribune/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Fourteen. That’s how many taxi cabs are licensed in Minneapolis today.

And yes, that’s crazy low.

With Uber and Lyft vowing to leave the city May 1 after the City Council approved a minimum pay requirement, a lot of people have been wondering if the local taxi industry is poised to pick up any slack.

The number is all the more striking when compared to the number of taxi cabs registered in the city in 2015, a little over two years after Uber entered the local market: 1,385. That year appears to be the high-water mark for cabs and cabbies, as the numbers began to fall steeply in the following years.

In theory, the city’s cab capacity could rebound quickly. A taxi driver requesting to drive for a licensed company could get a license as soon as that day if their application paperwork is in order. The same holds for a cab. A new taxi company can be licensed in two to six weeks. (There were 38 cab companies in 2014; today there are nine.)

about the writer

Dave Orrick

Minneapolis City Hall reporter

Dave Orrick covers Minneapolis city government for the Star Tribune. 

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