Just Last year Nashville International Airport became the first major U.S. airport to allow Uber and Lyft pickups (legally). Although some Uber and Lyft drivers will still come pick you up at DFW, Love Field, and LAX even though they were not allowed and were threatened to be ticketed in some cases. The Uber and Lyft apps will soon allow pickups at DFW and LAX airports. Two of the worlds largest airports. The service is “cheaper than a taxi, and usually quite a bit nicer,” is normally what you get when comparing a Checker cab or Yellow cab to a ride-share service.
Uber is already dominating cabs in the competition for business trips, a trend that has only continued since the City Council’s new transportation-for-hire ordinance went into effect three months ago making it legal. The local taxi industry has been disrupted, with o
ne major exception being the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, where cabs and other older transportation companies including the limos and shuttles still enjoy the same competition-squelching protections they have always had. Uber users have been known to change their location on the app from DFW airport where you could not hail a ride to just offsite then telling the driver to meet them at the terminal.
DFW rolls out new regulations for ride sharing on August 1 that will allow these apps to compete for airport passengers. DFW is one huge taxi Eden with 63 million annual airline passengers, many of whom need rides and because it was built in the middle of no where between Dallas and Fort Worth and is far from whatever the rider’s final destination. In 2013, it collected more than $8 million in fees from taxi companies, which suggests that the taxi companies themselves are making at least in the tens of millions.
Back to LAX the typical taxi trip from LAX to downtown Los Angeles is more than $50, not including tip. In periods of low demand, Uber or Lyft rides are closer to $30, but that can rise sharply during peak periods. You can also get a Wing ride which has no surge rates for $35 one-way.
Some argue that dynamic pricing has put cab drivers at a disadvantage because taxi fares are set by city officials and do not fluctuate. Although a lot of consumers are fed up with constant scams from cabbies and rarely have problems with Uber or Lyft.
