SEATTLE — Uber wrote a letter to the Port of Seattle urging the authorization of their drivers to provide service in the arrivals line of Sea-Tac Airport "immediately," GeekWire reports.
Lyft, Sidecar, and uberX are all “transportation network companies” - otherwise called TNCs – that are currently prohibited from picking up passengers at the airport due to existing taxi regulations that only permit Yellow Cab to pick up arriving travelers.
KIRO 7 News reported in May that Port of Seattle had reportedly been in negotiation with Uber, Lyft and Sidecar to provide rides leaving Sea-Tac Airport.
A memo from the Port in the spring anticipated that pick-ups would start in June or July. But months later in November, Uber writes that The Port seems "no closer to a resolution"
"For months, the Commission and Port administration have told Uber that it was just a matter of time until pickups were authorized that an agreement was just around the corner. Unfortunately, both staff and the Commission have delivered that same message several times: an agreement would be finalized in April, then June, then August, then October at the latest. October has now passed, and we appear no closer to a resolution. Instead, we are told to tell drivers and riders that they need to wait yet again," General Manager Brooke Steger wrote in a letter to Port commissioners, obtained by GeekWire.
The letter outlined that tens of thousands of visitors and Seattle residents cannot open the Uber app when walking outside Sea-Tac Airport to the arrivals line.
Uber claims the bans forces drivers to essentially make one-way trips when dropping off customers, because they can't pick up anyone to take back to Seattle.
Additionally, the ride-hailing company says TNCs would contribute financially to the Port and that "the Port has missed out on millions of dollars in revenue."
Yellow Cab’s exclusive five-year contract expires this October, opening the door for TNC pick-ups at the airport. Yellow Cab pays Sea-Tac upward of $3.67 million annually – equal to 13 percent of its gross revenue from airport pick-ups.
KIRO
