UBER DUPERS AT THE GATES
Ride-app posers invade Gotham airports
The terminals at the city’s airports are being plagued by bogus cabdrivers claiming to work for car-hailing apps like Uber or Lyft — and it’s gotten so bad that Uber has lodged an official complaint with the Port Authority.
“In recent weeks, the conditions at the terminal have noticeably worsened and have reached crisis levels,” Uber’s New York City manager, Josh Mohrer, wrote to the PA, which runs the metro-area airports.
“In response to feedback from our riders and drivers, we are writing to request that the Port Authority Police Department review the problem of illegal solicitations at the airports.”
Some of the livery-cab drivers have Taxi and Limousine Commission licenses that allow them to drive a black car, and it’s possible that some work part time for one of the car-ride apps, sources said.
Even so, it is illegal for them to accept hails at an airport or schedule rides without using the official Uber or Lyft software.
At JFK and La Guardia airports, the illegal drivers are aided by fixers who hang out near arrival areas and aggressively solicit passengers.
One such “dispatcher,” who identified herself only as Luce, was spotted in a La Guardia terminal recently with a clipboard emblazoned with the Uber symbol.
She quoted prices for rides to various areas and told a reporter not to use the Uber app but to instead seek her out.
“I can do it on my phone,” she said.
A La Guardia employee said Uber never sends its workers into the airport.
“We’re supposed to tell the supervisor, but because there’s so many of them coming in at a time, you don’t want to report it when there’s so much heavy activity going on,” the worker said.
The problem persists even though TLC officers gave out 4,524 summonses and made 49 arrests for taxi-related violations between the beginning of the year and mid-September at La Guardia and JFK.
PA officials said efforts to stop bogus cabbies have been hamstrung by a court ruling that said the authority could no longer seize vehicles.
“If you were taking away the car, they couldn’t work as a livery,” PA spokesman Joe Pentangelo said.
TLC spokesman Allan Fromberg said the commission was “working together with the Port Authority on consistent enforcement to keep the pressure on and keep these poachers away from passengers.”
The illicit drivers are known to gouge unwitting travelers. Bella Stier, 17, nearly got chiseled after hitching a ride from La Guardia to Astoria, Queens.
“He [said] he could get me where I was going for much cheaper,” said Stier, who is a family member of a Post reporter. “I asked him how much the ride was, and he said $75.”
Online fare estimators say the trip should cost $12 to $15.
But Stier’s mom sniffed out the scam, refusing to pay when the driver arrived at her home. She instead took a photo of the hack’s license and threw him $20.