Uber, Lyft users can catch rides at DFW
Gordon Dickson
For travelers who prefer the smartphone-based companies Uber and Lyft over traditional taxis, Dallas/Fort Worth Airport is now open for business.
The airport, which for years closely controlled the number of cabs allowed to pick up fares at terminals, opened up last week to any for-hire vehicles permitted to operate in Dallas and Fort Worth. That includes drivers for Uber and Lyft, many of whom use their personal vehicles to pick up passengers.
Dallas began issuing permits to Uber and Lyft drivers in May. Fort Worth is still working on rules and doesn’t yet require permits, but many drivers have gone to Dallas to get permits, making it easy to get a sticker to work at DFW Airport.
Once the drivers have a sticker, they can legally collect passengers at DFW and operate their carsfor-hire almost anywhere in the region, including Fort Worth and Arlington. In the past, Uber and Lyft drivers could drop off fares at the airport but not pick up passengers.
“When you can connect at DFW, it’s like a home base. It’s a staging area,” said Uber and Lyft driver Daphne Truelove, 54, of North Richland Hills. She was among dozens of drivers who waited in line last week to get permits at DFW’s central taxi queue. New competition
The policy change is not good news for many of the 2,136 cabdrivers working at the airport. They face the prospect of longer workdays for less money as they compete with an influx of new drivers.
About 200 new drivers — cabbies in addition to Uber and Lyft drivers — received permits on the first day, a DFW official said. A steady flow of applicants continued throughout the week.
“It’s going to be a long wait to get a trip,” said Gali Kereta, a 14-year cabdriver who was at DFW’s taxi queue for nearly two hours one recent morning and hadn’t yet had his turn to patrol the terminals for a fare.
Kereta said he needs at least four fares a day to make a decent living. That often requires him to work 11 hours at a time.
Another driver, Isaac Milanzi, added: “This is a big change. Five years ago, we made good money. Today, we are making half the money in a day.”
Cabdrivers said it’s not fair that they have to buy commercial insurance, which can cost $500 a month, while Uber and Lyft drivers can use their personal car insurance, often $100 a month or less.
Taxi advocates have also pointed out flaws in background checks for Uber and Lyft drivers. Last week, Uber driver Talal Ali Chammout, 56, was accused of sexually assaulting a woman July 25 after dropping her off at her home in Dallas’ West Oak Cliff neighborhood.
Chammout may have used a fake permit, according to news reports.
Cab operators have rolled out their own smartphone apps for customers to call for a ride, and they say they’re willing to modernize their fleets to improve customer comfort. But they also still pick up less-affluent customers who don’t have smartphones and credit cards.
Despite those concerns, DFW Airport is respond- ing to a sea change in the vehicle-for-hire industry, spokesman David Magaña said.
The airport used to stringently regulate cabs wishing to do business on airport property. In response to requests from owner cities Dallas and Fort Worth, it now leaves the regulation to them.
Fort Worth and other cities want to open the vehicle-for-hire business to more competition because supporters believe it will push the industry to provide a better experience for customers, Councilman Jungus Jordan said. Cheaper fares
Nationwide surveys show that most business travelers prefer Uber or Lyft to a traditional cab if given a choice. Customers like being able to request a ride and pay for it using an app rather than paying the driver.
“The technology is here, and the customer wants it,” Magaña said.
Uber and Lyft fares also tend to be cheaper, drivers said.
Ameen Zenhom of Watauga said a typical airport fare is $25 in his Uber car, whereas a taxi might charge $40 and an airport limousine might charge $85.
“I hope the taxi services or limousines don’t get mad,” Zenhom said. “But that is the new system, and the new system is to care about the price for the customer is very important.”
On a typical day, up to 100 taxis can be seen lining up at DFW’s central taxi queue. At the non-descript building and parking area south of Terminal E, cabdrivers must check in and wait their turn to patrol the terminals seeking fares.
It’s DFW’s way of inspecting cabs for cleanliness and maintenance and making sure that too many taxis aren’t on the airport’s streets at one time.
Terminals are monitored for cars-for-hire without permits, an official said.
“We do have personnel on the curbs, and they are looking for illegal solicitation,” Jim Crites, DFW’s executive vice president of operations, told the airport board in May. “We would then issue proper violations to those not following the rules.”
Uber and Lyft drivers will operate in a similar fashion. They will be asked to stage at a Terminal B infield parking lot used by limousines. Special agreement
Uber and the airport worked together to set up a “geo-fencing” computer program to control how Uber drivers are notified that someone needs a ride.
Normally, Uber drivers get notifications on their phones when a customer near them needs a ride. Under the agreement, notifications at the airport will be blocked by special software and received only by drivers parked within the staging area, Magaña said.
Truelove is excited to have access to DFW Airport. She has driven for Lyft about 12 weeks and for Uber three weeks.
“I do it for fun. I do it for extra cash,” she said. “I get riders from their 20s to their 80s.”
Star-Telegram writer Andrea Ahles contributed to
this report.