BOSTON (WHDH) - Massachusetts Port Authority officials have proposed a new plan aimed at alleviating traffic woes at Boston’s notoriously gridlocked Logan International Airport.
The plan introduced at Thursday’s board of directors meeting proposes banning all rideshare vehicles from dropping clients off at their desired terminals and a significant fee hike for those looking to take an Uber or Lyft to the airport.
Currently, anyone using a ride-for-hire app can take the service right to the terminal doors, which has caused significant traffic congestion.
Their new plan seeks to move these services to the ground floor of the airport’s central garage for both inbound and outbound trips.
State data indicates that 5 million of the 12 million rideshare trips to and from Logan in 2018 carried no passengers.
Massport is hoping the plan will decrease that number by 30 percent by making it easier for drivers to find their next client.
“This transportation strategy is aimed at improving the customer experience, reducing empty vehicles clogging our roadways, reducing greenhouse gases, and making HOV options more attractive for our customers,” Massport acting CEO John Pranckevicius said in a statement. “The growing congestion at Logan is significantly impacting our passengers and our surrounding communities.”
Pranckevicius said the plan is better for customers, the community and the environment.
Uber spokesman Harry Hartfield says the company is concerned about how higher fees and a new, central drop-off location would impact their customers.
“We want to work with Massport on a compromise to address their concerns around planned construction and congestion, but the current proposal would result in customers paying more and getting less,” Hartfield said. “Under the proposal, customer fees on rideshare trips to and from the airport would increase by more than 200%, the customer experience would get worse all while doing little to reduce congestion.“
The Massport Board is expected to vote on a new fee structure in April.
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