Older taxis may be picking up passengers at the Atlanta airport for years to come.
The Atlanta City Council Transportation Committee on Wednesday voted in favor of an ordinance to permanently allow taxi cabs picking up passengers at Hartsfield-Jackson International to be as much as 10 years old.
Cabbies have pushed the city for years to permanently allow older cabs at the airport, saying they can’t afford to buy new rides every seven years.
The cab age limit was 10 years before the council changed the cap to seven years in 2017. That change was part of a broader effort to legalize and regulate Uber and Lyft pickups at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.
In 2020, the City Council approved a temporary waiver to allow cabs up to 10 years old to pick up at the airport. In 2022, they extended the relief for two years through 2024.
The measure to make the 10-year age cap permanent, which requires full council approval, would only apply to cabs picking up at the airport. Outside the committee meeting room after the vote, cab drivers cheered.
“A lot of the taxi drivers ... they don’t have the kind of money to get new cars,” said cabbie VanDyke Howard. With the longer 10-year age limit, “at least if they can make more money, they can get a used car instead of a new car,” he said.
The vote on the legislation to allow cabs to be up to 10 years old came after an earlier version of the ordinance proposed to more broadly deregulate the taxi industry by repealing certain requirements for taximeters and the standard appearance of cabs. However, the idea of removing the taxi standards prompted vocal opposition by cab drivers.
“They want us to change and be under something like Uber. We don’t want that,” Howard said.
Last year, the council voted to increase cab fares in Atlanta, a move to level the playing field as tax drivers compete with Uber and Lyft.
That ordinance set a minimum fare of $10 for each trip. Flat rates for trips from Hartsfield-Jackson to downtown trips increased to $36, airport-Midtown trips went up to $38 and airport-Buckhead trips went up to $48.
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