Uber, Lyft and similar services get clearance to operate at National and Dulles airports

Officials with the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority on Wednesday approved new rules for popular-app based ride-sharing services such as Uber and Lyft that will allow the companies to pick up and drop off passengers at Reagan National and Dulles International airports, but give the airports a share of the revenue.

 

Under the new guidelines, the companies will pay a $5,000 one-time fee for a special permit to operate on airport premises. Drivers will pay a $4 per pick-up and drop-off  “access” fee — a cost that likely will be passed on to customers. There will be designated waiting areas at the airports for rideshare vehicles — a move designed to reduce customer wait times. The rules also apply to traditional limousine services, which were previously not regulated by the authority.

 

Plan would create new rules for app-based services like Uber at Reagan National and Dulles.

 

Margaret McKeough, MWAA’s chief operating officer said the authority believes the new rules will make it easier for customers to use the services, while creating a way for authority officials to monitor how they mesh with other transportation options.

 

“We know there will be a lot of learning in this first year,” added Jerome Davis, chief revenue officer at MWAA.

 

McKeough said it’s not clear how much revenue the change will generate for the airports authority. Until now, she said, it has been difficult to determine how many travelers are using these types of services.

 

In approving the new rules, Dulles and National join airports across the country that have adopted new rules for a service that is giving traditional taxis and airport shuttles serious competition for passengers. The new regulations go into effect Nov. 1.

 

“We have understood for quite some time that the airport authority was under great pressure to allow Uber and Lyft to operate at Reagan National and Dulles airports,” said John Massoud,vice president of Arlington Blue Top Cabs, which has 171 drivers in Arlington and operates a third of the Washington Flyer cabs at Dulles. “There are many things we agreed with in the final proposal and there are some things that we don’t agree with. It is still our belief that licensed taxicabs, which have drivers who have gone through a real criminal background check with a fingerprint check are the safest and most economical way to get transport to and from either airport. We would match our safety record and our complaint record against Uber or lyft any day of the week.”

 

Officials at Uber and Lyft supported the proposal, but said the $4 per-trip access fee is among the highest in the country.

 

The $4 price is a reduction from the $5 per-trip charge that was originally proposed in May. MWAA officials say the fee is comparable to what other big airports charge, including San Francisco, Los Angeles and Oakland.

 

In a letter to MWAA’s board of directors, Zuhairah Washington, general manager for Uber DC, said the fees “would artificially inflate the cost of trips arranged through out low-cost uberX product.”

 

Airports are the newest battleground between Uber, Lyft and taxis

 

The airport regulations follow recent action in Virginia, the District and Maryland that allow the services to operate legally in those jurisdictions.

 

Public hearings on the rules first proposed in May, were held in June.