Asheville airport adds fees for Uber, other ground transportation services

ASHEVILLE - All ground transportation services at Asheville Regional Airport — including the popular ride-booking services Uber and Lyft — must pay per-trip pickup fees and follow new monitoring systems, airport officials said Monday.

The airport’s move already has set up a confrontation with Uber, which is declining to comply with the new rules, which means that Uber drivers are not currently able to operate on the airport’s property.

Before Monday, individual Uber and Lyft drivers operated without paying direct fees, although each corporation paid a $7,000 annual permit fee for access, according to the airport. Drivers now believe that they will be responsible for a $3.50 per trip access fee. Taxis, shuttles and limousine services will also be required to pay pickup fees of $2.50 a trip, as well as annual permit fees.

Those fees could be paid by the Uber and Lyft corporations, said Tina Kinsey, director of marketing and public relations for Asheville Regional Airport Authority. So far, neither company has agree to make those payments for their drivers.

In addition to a new ground transportation lot for ride-booking companies to meet passengers, drivers must also obtain a key card, free of charge, so the airport can track usage, said Tina Kinsey, director of marketing for Asheville Regional Airport Authority.

“We cannot treat ride-share operators differently than other ground transportation providers,” Kinsey said.

The change caught some Uber drivers by surprise, and many fear it will cut off a big source of income.

“We are not in a position to take on another cost, with the margins being so thin we can’t afford to lose another $3 on every fare – that could be the difference between whether some people will keep doing this job,” Asheville Uber driver Russell Badger said.

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Airport officials have been in talks with ride-booking companies over the past year, Kinsey said, with the main goal to clear curbside traffic. All transportation companies were notified of the fee changes at least 30 days ago, Kinsey said, but Uber evidently did not let drivers know until Monday.

Kinsey said the new rules are a standard within the airport industry.

“Most larger airports are able to install very expensive scanning systems that automate per trip charges when vehicles enter to pick up passengers but we do not have the option to install this type of system, so we created a gated lot with a key card access,” Kinsey said.

Ground transportation providers, like taxi and shuttle services, have been asking for a per trip operating process for quite some time, she said.

“It is an equitable way to administer operating fees because permitted providers only pay when they are doing business at the airport,” she said.

Badger said he had been hearing rumors about new rules for months, but was surprised at the sudden implementation.

“We didn’t hear anything from Uber until today when we got an email from them at 7 a.m.,” said Badger, who also manages a Facebook page for other Uber and Lyft drivers in the area. “They said we are no longer allowed to pick up at the airport but as a driver, that is a regular place we go to make money.”

Uber driver Joel Bender said he found out about the changes when other drivers started sending him Facebook messages. He also received screenshots from drivers’ phones showing Uber drivers were no longer allowed to operate at the airport.

Bender, who has been an Uber driver for almost two years, said he is frustrated at the way the Uber and airport handled the situation.

“We are just now finding out about this the day it’s supposed to become operative,” Bender said.

Kinsey said the airport communicated these new changes to all companies 30 days ago to give everyone a chance to learn about the rules before they were made official. The airport has no way to contact individual drivers, she noted, and relies on each company to keep its drivers informed of rule changes.

Uber and Lyft drivers are still allowed to drop off passengers.

Editor's note: An earlier version of this story failed to mention that Uber and Lyft previously paid a $7,000 flat fee for access for their drivers and misstated the status of access for Lyft drivers.