A policy change by Lyft has enraged Uber and could increase congestion by shifting cars from the outer boroughs to Manhattan.

Starting June 27, Lyft drivers will not be able to get onto the company's app if they are cruising where few people are demanding rides. Instead, they will have to wait until demand picks up, or drive to a busier neighborhood—Midtown, for example, or Downtown Brooklyn.

Drivers will have to keep looking for busy areas throughout the day, or risk getting thrown off the app until demand increases.

Some Lyft drivers will be exempt—the ones who accept 90% or more ride requests and have completed at least 100 rides in the previous 30 days. Insiders say that is likely to be a small portion of them.

The policy is Lyft's reaction to new minimum-wage rules that it unsuccessfully challenged in court—and which it says benefit Uber.

The new payment formula looks at how much of the time a driver cruises with an empty car. The more cruising a driver does, the more fare revenue the app-based company needs to share to ensure the driver makes at least $17 an hour after expenses.

App-based services with a high "utilization rate"—meaning their drivers are ferrying passengers nearly 60% of the time—can contribute less to the driver's pay. To reduce congestion in Midtown the Taxi and Limousine Commission wants fewer empty cars.

Both Lyft and Juno have argued that Uber, which has more users than its competitors, will need to chip in the least to make their drivers whole. The TLC has been using an industry-wide utilization rate but in February 2020 will begin using company-specific rates. Lyft is acting now because the agency will calculate next year’s rates over a six-month period that starts July 1.

By keeping drivers off its app when demand is low, Lyft will boost its utilization rate. It could also hurt Uber's, as drivers switch to Uber's app, flooding its platform with available cars.

It is possible that demand could pull traffic out of Manhattan: A recently released TLC study found that for-hire vehicles' utilization rates in Brooklyn and the Bronx in June 2018 were higher than in Manhattan’s core. But Lyft has argued that the city's formula incentivizes drivers to pursue short, low-speed trips—the kind that are typical in the central business district—rather than the longer, faster trips common in the rest of the city.

Lyft emailed its drivers today about the change and put up a blog post with suggestions for working with the rules.

"Because of the TLC regulations, we're making changes to the Lyft app which will limit the number of drivers who can log on when there isn't a high demand for rides," a spokesman said in a statement. "This means some drivers may have to wait to drive or may not be able to drive at all. We believe these new rules are misguided, but are working diligently to support drivers during this change."

Uber sees Lyft's move as a slap to the face.

"Once drivers are kicked off of the Lyft app, they will immediately log on to Uber, significantly increasing the vehicles on our platform without taking a car off the road," an Uber spokeswoman said in a statement. "We will continue working to ensure that we can provide sustainable earning opportunities for drivers and affordable trips for riders."

The Independent Drivers Guild, which represents app-based drivers and gets funding from Uber, said Lyft was ignoring the city's requirement that the payment formula take into account the time a driver spends "waiting for a dispatch and then traveling" to pick up passengers.

"This is Lyft trying to avoid paying drivers for all of their time on the app as required in New York City—and city leaders cannot allow it," a guild spokeswoman said in a statement. "By forcing drivers to log off the app and drive to a new location before they can get back on, they are shifting the costs for those miles and minutes back on to drivers in violation of city rules."