OIA braces for traffic crush
Starting on July 1, Uber, Lyft allowed to pick up passengers
Uber and Lyft are preparing to pick up passengers at Orlando’s airport as soon as July 1, thanks to a new state law nullifying local rules that had restricted the practice.
But as travelers look forward to lower fares, Orlando International Airport is bracing for traffic congestion.
Airport officials plan to direct the anticipated invasion of those ride-share cars and the large fleet of taxicabs already operating at the airport to the passenger-arrival curbs of the second levels of terminals A and B.
Those quarter-mile strips are several lanes wide and often are congested with privately owned cars picking up family, friends and others.
Traffic there could get a lot worse, say airport officials, but how much more so remains to be seen.
Decisions on whether to proceed with that arrangement and how much the airport will charge ride-share cars for each pickup will come this week.
“We're working collaboratively with the airport to reach an agreement and are hopeful that we will be able to launch as soon as possible after the state
law is enacted,” Lyft spokesman Campbell Matthews said.
Eventually, pickups by ride-share cars may be directed, as at some other airports, to curbs along the third level, where airlines have ticket counters.
However, heavy construction is occurring there now to expand lobby space.
Taxicabs now funnel through the first level, which is crowded with shuttles, buses and passengers walking to parking garages and rental cars.
“We are trying to anticipate where there are going to be issues because regardless of what happens, we will be the ones that people complain to,” airport director Phil Brown said.
There have been no rules prohibiting rideshare cars from dropping off passengers.
Most other major airports in Florida and the nation have come to terms with ride-share companies, agreeing to where their cars can meet passengers and how much they will pay for each pickup.
Increasingly, Orlando’s airport had been a lonely holdout, allowing only a premium version of rideshare service, which has fares more on par with traditional taxis.
Passengers arriving in Orlando from other cities last week warned that the airport experience might be chaotic as ride-share service settles into a routine.
But, “I like to have the option of an Uber,” said Matt Yardley, an audio-video engineer from Charlotte.
Airport officials also fear the Uber and Lyft dropoffs could put millions of dollars of parking revenues for airport operations in jeopardy.
The availability of ridesharing may drain the enormous parking garages at both sides and on top of the terminals, as well as a new one about to open south of the airport’s main campus.
“We haven’t got any analysis on that because we don’t have any choice,” Brown said.
Also worried about a ride-share invasion are operators of premium taxicab services, many of which are one-car companies.
“As a matter of fact, I’m applying for another job now,” said Juan Torres, who owns Tower Transportation, which consists of him as driver and his luxury Suburban. “I will not be able to keep doing this and that’s not an emotional issue; it’s a financial fact.”
He said that the rideshare companies will undercut the fares of traditional taxis and won’t have as much of a burden for insurance and other regulations.
An Uber trip from downtown Orlando to the airport can cost nearly half as much as a taxicab ride.
Mears Transportation spokesman Roger Chapin, whose company has most of the taxicabs permitted to pick up passengers at the airport, said that as competition intensifies with the arrival of rideshare services, pressure likely will mount for the city to revisit its taxicab regulations.
Said Bill Jones of 1st Choice Town Cars: “I’m not asking for a handout, but let’s make the rules equal for everybody.”
In the meantime, new rules for ride-share companies are up for consideration Wednesday, when the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority board holds a public hearing before making a vote.
Most of those proposed rules for ride-shares aren’t controversial: they call for pickups to occur on the second level; for drivers to wait in an 80-space parking lot near the B-52 bomber park; and for setting up an electronic system to monitor the cars.
One element that is getting opposition is the airport’s intended pickup charge for ride-share cars.
That will be $5.80 for each pickup, he said, which also is the amount levied for prearranged taxi rides.
“We believe that’s consistent with the law,” Brown said.
The airport charge for basic, on-demand taxicab service is $3.30 for each pickup.
Javi Correoso, Uber’s spokesman in Florida, said $5.80 would exceed what other airports in Florida and the nation charge.
“We look forward to continuing to work with MCO’s leadership in the coming days to come to terms on a fee structure,” he said, referring to the Orlando airport by its airfield code.