Frustration boiled over at San Francisco International Airport's newly expanded domestic rideshare pick-up area Sunday evening when Uber and Lyft passengers said they faced excruciatingly long waits, canceled trips, and trouble finding their cars.

Drivers were just as exasperated. Many complained about a horrendous traffic jam leading into the new zone, located on the fifth level of the domestic central garage. Infrequent drivers to SFO complained about getting lost because of confusing driving instructions and then having to circle around the airport several times — leaving their customers bewildered.

"The driver just circles around the map, and I don't know what he's doing," said Abiel Gutierrez of San Francisco, who was glued to his phone waiting for his Uber ride to show up. "Since he didn't take the correct way at first he had to go back on the highway and turn around."

Gutierrez, who came in from Chicago, finally hopped in a ride to the city 45 minutes after calling a car. His first driver cancelled on him, so he opted to hop into a UberPool ride in hopes of a faster trip out of the airport. For other Uber and Lyft customers, wait times to get into their cars ran as long as an hour on. Many gave up, opting to use BART or find a taxi instead.

Sunday evenings are traditionally one of the busiest times for rideshare pick-ups at SFO, and last night was the first major test of whether the zone can cope with the capacity of hundreds of people ordering cars in a very short period of time.

According to the many riders who took to Twitter to relay their frustration, the new ridesharing pick up lot failed that test:

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On Monday morning, Doug Yakel, SFO spokesperson told SFGate: "Evenings between 8-11pm are the peak demand period for TNC pickups, and Sunday nights typically see the largest volume of activity. While the new pickup area has sufficient capacity, getting TNCs through the inbound roadway (shared with taxis and private vehicles) has been the main challenge. This area was already busy when, at about 9:30 pm Sunday night, a vehicle stalled on the inbound roadway. This caused a significant backup, as did the police and tow trucks which responded." In earlier interviews with SFGate, Uber and Lyft questioned whether the area had enough capacity.

"It's pretty terrible so far," said Los Angeles resident Brad Dupuie, who spent 45 minutes waiting for his Lyft Shared ride into the city at around 11 pm Sunday night.

"It's worse than LAX," he said. "It looks calm and nice when you come here, and then you notice there are 50-60 people who are not really moving."

Dupuie's driver, Keriene Fecuri, finally pulled up to his pick-up zone after spending more than half an hour stuck in traffic. A single lane feeds into the new ride share zone, creating a choke point for dozens of Ubers, Lyfts and Wingz cars jockeying to get to their customers. That left a conga-line of Uber and Lyft cars that stretched all the way onto northbound Highway 101 to the rideshare staging lot off Millbrae Ave.

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Estimated arrival times on apps were way off — leaving drivers and riders believing their cars were only 5-10 minutes away — when in reality, it was taking drivers at least 30 minutes to get to the new rideshare zone.

"Terrible, today is terrible," Fecuri, a Richmond resident, said. "I was stuck in traffic for 40 minutes. It's hard for us and for customers too."

Lauren Alexander, a spokesperson for Lyft said, "Last night's back-up has raised further questions on whether the garage ramps can contend with the increased vehicle volume required during peak hours. The loss of Rematch at SFO has increased the number rideshare vehicles needed to keep up with demand. Last night, both of these factors contributed to increased wait times and congestion in the new TNC pick-up location. Lyft remains committed to evaluating the impacts of the move and alternative solutions with airport leadership."

Don't miss! Our step by step guide to SFO's new Uber/Lyft pickup zone

SFO moved all domestic terminal rideshare pick-ups to the new pick-up zone June 5 to alleviate curbside congestion on airport roadways. Uber, Lyft and Wingz all opposed the move, but airport officials said something had to be done to speed up traffic around SFO's "horseshoe" which had dropped to just 10 mph, or slower, at peak times like Sunday evening.

"The other times I've taken it, it's been really easy," said San Francisco resident Connor Frischmeyer, who also came in from Chicago. "I would honestly prefer this [the rideshare area] rather than picking a car up right out front. But tonight's slow."

Frischmeyer waited 20 minutes for his car, only to see his car loop around the garage and end up back on Highway 101. He said either his Lyft app was glitchy, or his driver apparently got lost, too. And he noted how substantially higher his ride was going to be: $60 to his home in the Haight-Ashbury. (Airport to city rides are usually around $35)

Perhaps there is one silver lining as hundreds waited for their cars on the rideshare level: traffic down below along SFO's departures level in front of the domestic terminals — the area where Ubers, Lyfts, and Wingz cars were formerly allowed to do pick-ups — was non-existent.

An Uber spokesperson told SFGate: "Unfortunately, our concerns about the recent changes to the SFO pickup experience were confirmed this past Sunday. The airport's decision to move rideshare pickups to the garage resulted in increased congestion, higher cancellation rates and, on average, nearly tripled the wait times. We will continue our best efforts to mitigate the impact for riders and drivers and remain hopeful that the airport will reconsider this decision." Uber's stats show that average wait time on Sunday night was about 23 minutes, which is three times the average of about 8 minutes the Sunday before (June 2).

A couple rideshare work-arounds until the kinks are worked out: Walk to the International Terminal and call your car from there-- pickups are still at departures level roadways. Or pay more for an Uber Black or SUV, which are still allowed to pick up at domestic departures curbside. And of course, you can always walk down to the arrivals level and take a taxi, or walk (or AirTrain) to the BART station.

Have you tried the new rideshare pick up zone at SFO yet? How'd that go for you? Please leave your thoughts in the comments.

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Chris McGinnis is the founder of TravelSkills.com. The author is solely responsible for the content above, and it is used here by permission. You can reach Chris at chris@travelskills.com or on Twitter @cjmcginnis.