In a hotly-contested move, Phoenix has decided to add a surcharge on app-based ride services like Uber and Lyft when they pick up or drop off at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport. The fee is an increase on the present fee for pickups, and a new fee for dropoffs.
The city says the fee is needed both to generate revenue for airport improvements that the services need, like more curb lanes and holding areas and to put a brake on the growth of the number of vehicles dropping off only one or two passengers. The $4-each-way fee, which will rise to $5 by 2024, won’t apply to passengers being picked up or dropped off at the airport’s Sky Train station. There will also be a 40% rebate of the charge for zero-emission vehicles.
Phoenix is only one of numbers of airports where curb-lane traffic has skyrocketed, sometimes strangling all traffic through the airport. Los Angeles, which is adding airport construction to an existing problem, has already decided to shift the taxi and ride-app users to a new area away from the terminals; it will go into effect October 29.
