Lyft Service Dog Settlement Minnesota Addresses Rides Denied to Blind Rider
A Lyft service dog settlement Minnesota officials announced resolves a complaint filed by a blind rider who said Lyft drivers repeatedly canceled rides because she was traveling with her guide dog.
Lyft left Tori Andres and her service dog Alfred stranded seven times.
“I travel pretty much everywhere with my guide dog,” said Andres, who has also been a guide dog handler for seven years. “He is my eyes. He is my freedom, and he is why I am able to live independently.”
Andres filed a complaint against Lyft with the Minnesota Department of Human Rights (MDHR). MDHR Commissioner Rebecca Lucero announced a settlement on March 11, 2026.
“After a thorough investigation, we found that Lyft did violate the Minnesota Human Rights Act. We found that Lyft drivers… repeatedly canceled rides because Tori was traveling with her service animal,” said Lucero.
Lyft will notify rideshare contractors that they must provide services to customers with service animals. Drivers who violate the policy will have their contracts deactivated and will no longer be allowed to drive for Lyft.
“It has benefits that will impact people across the country, because Lyft has made several changes to its policies across the board, and its training,” said Lucero. “Then they updated their app pretty substantially.”
Under the settlement, the Minnesota Department of Human Rights will monitor Lyft’s compliance with disability laws for three years.
“They have to report to the Department of Human Rights every single time the rides are denied, so we can track what’s going on there and why and what additional accommodations were provided at that time,” said Lucero.
Sources inside the company deny this, writing that the settlement does not “require Lyft to provide individual ride cancellation notices to the State.” Lyft framed the settlement as reinforcing existing policies in a statement.
“Lyft has maintained a strict service animal policy for nearly a decade, and independent drivers who violate that policy face serious consequences, including permanent deactivation,” the statement reads. “The commitments reflected in this agreement reaffirm the robust practices Lyft has already had in place to help ensure that riders who rely on service animals are treated with the respect they deserve.”
However, Lucero noted that prior policies were not consistently enforced, and the company’s drivers repeatedly denied service. While Lyft may have had policies on paper, MDHR said they found gaps in real-world application. Drivers often refused rides for reasons such as “the animal sheds” or incorrectly requesting documentation.
Neither the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) nor the Minnesota Human Rights Act requires travelers to provide documentation like medical records, training certificates or ID cards to ride with a service animal in rideshares, taxis or on public transit. Chad Wilson, an attorney with the Minnesota Disability Law Center of Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid, echoed this during the news conference.
“A driver or transportation provider should only ask two questions, is this animal required because of disability, and what task or work has that animal been trained to perform?” said Wilson. “That’s it.”
Despite Lyft’s Service Animal Policy, Andres was denied service multiple times. It is not clear whether Lyft had consistent enforcement or if drivers were properly trained to accommodate customers with service dogs.
Ride-hailing companies Uber and Lyft have long faced documented cases of denying service to riders with disabilities and service animals. Lyft customers who use wheelchairs had a wait time of nine minutes, more than the four-minute wait time for non-accessible rides, according to a 2019 NYPL study. The same data shows Uber customers waited four minutes for wheelchair-accessible service compared to two minutes for non-accessible vehicles.
David Dively, executive director of the Minnesota Council on Disability, said the agency is frequently contacted about these rights.
“It’s easily top five, if not the biggest, for phone calls and emails that we get. There’s a lot of misunderstanding and a lot of challenges that people with disabilities experience around this,” said Dively.
There are many transportation options available for people with disabilities. Metro Mobility rides must be scheduled one to four days in advance. Metro Mobility’s Premium On-Demand service offers short trips that can be requested the same day for eligible riders. Metro Transit is still behind on maintenance that would make public transit more accessible. For example, a long overdue renovation to escalators at the Lake Street/Midtown Station will not begin until April 2027.
Despite these options, Dively said services provided by Uber and Lyft remain critical for riders with service animals.
“That’s not always practical or feasible for people, so having real, dependable, functional transportation is critical,” said Dively.
Service dogs assist people with a wide range of disabilities by performing tasks that help them live more independently. Some are trained to interrupt panic attacks or wake handlers from nightmares for people with post-traumatic stress disorder. Others assist people with multiple sclerosis by picking up dropped items or providing balance support while walking. Service dogs can also detect blood sugar changes in people with diabetes, alerting their handlers before a medical emergency occurs.
Those interested in service dogs can apply to Can Do Canines, an assistance dog placement program in New Hope, Minnesota, or Helping Paws, an assistance dog and volunteer trainer program in Eden Prairie, Minnesota. Pawsitivity Service Dogs for Veterans in St. Paul focuses on veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder, mobility challenges and other service-connected disabilities.
Lyft denied violating the Minnesota Human Rights Act. When asked whether progress on compliance would be publicly available, Lucero deferred to Lyft.
“I’m not sure I would defer to Lyft to see if their policies will be publicly posted,” Lucero said.
Lyft did not respond directly to whether those reports would be made public.
Lyft said the company will provide data on alleged violations of its service animal policy to MDHR twice a year.
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