The Atlanta airport wants to start allowing pick-ups by Uber and Lyft starting July 1, ending a loosely enforced ban that had confused travelers and turned some ride-share drivers into blockade runners.
Airport management expects to introduce a plan to an Atlanta City Council committee on March 30 that would legalize Uber X and Lyft pick-ups, said Miguel Southwell, general manager of Hartsfield-Jackson International.
Drop-offs already are allowed. But pick-ups are not without commercial permits, which generally excludes ride-share drivers. Some drivers for the more expensive Uber Black limo service have permits.
Officers at Hartsfield-Jackson issue citations to ride-share drivers they catch trying to skirt the rule, sometimes impounding cars and leaving customers at the curb. Some drivers remove window stickers or ask customers to sit up front to avoid getting caught.
The world’s busiest airport has seen a push from travelers who want the option of using an app to easily get a ride from the airport to their destination — often at a lower cost than a cab.
“There’s really a groundswell of shared-ride type of programs where people carpool,” Southwell said. “And more and more people, of course, are using Uber and Lyft that are made possible by these technologies.”
Charles Reichert, a West Cobb resident, applauded the news.
“The people are always nice,” Reichert said of Uber drivers. “And the price is good.”
California-based Uber in a written statement said it looks forward to seeing the proposed agreement with the city of Atlanta and to “working with officials to expand access to transportation options for travelers.”
It hasn’t been a simple issue for airport management or the city, which owns and operates Hartsfield-Jackson.
In defending the rule against pickups, the airport has said it wants to ensure a standard of safety through regulated background checks of drivers and insurance coverage minimums. Uber said it has been using standards set out by Georgia law on ride-sharing.
The airport also collects access fees from commercial drivers to help pay for ground transportation infrastructure including hold lots, pickup areas and staffing. Taxi and limo drivers say it’s unfair for them to pay such fees when ride-share drivers don’t.
Exactly how Atlanta plans to handle those issues isn’t yet clear, as Southwell didn’t address details in talking about the plan at an airport event Thursday.
Regulated ride services and drivers say they want a level playing field.
Taxi drivers typically pay monthly fees to the owner of a certificate, similar to a taxi medallion, for the right to drive a cab.
“We cannot afford to pay $700, $800 to a company and compete with Uber for a $15 fare. There’s no way we can survive,” said cab driver Sharmarke Yonis, founder of the Atlanta Taxi Workers Alliance Corp. “A lot of drivers right now are very nervous.”
He added: “What we’re concerned about right now is, ‘Is Uber X going to have a background check?’”
Many other airports have legalized Uber X and Lyft operations. Others have tried to impose rules on fingerprint and background checks, prompting the ride-share companies to fight such measures and pull out or threaten to leave.
Jeff Greene, president of Atlanta limousine service Greene Worldwide Transportation, said: “Our biggest concern is that we have a level playing field, and that the public safety is at the top of the list, and that there are safeguards and insurances in place that will protect the traveling public when they get in any for-hire vehicle.”
Although Southwell may want the change in place by July 1, “there’ll be a big stink once it gets to Atlanta City Council and there’ll be all sorts of politicizing going on,” predicted Chris McGinnis, editor of the TravelSkills.com blog.
But for many travelers the change can’t come soon enough, he added.
“Uber has changed business travel for me more than any other thing in the last five years,” McGinnis said. “You push a button and get a car … [But] it’s still a question on everybody’s minds … can I use it at the airport?”
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