Business at Logan Airport is booming and so is the traffic. Uber and Lyft are being blamed for a lot of the congestion. In an effort to get it under control, Massport is phasing in a series of changes that will affect how travelers using ride-share apps get to and from the airport. Transportation reporter Bob Seay spoke with WGBH Radio's Arun Rath about the changes. This transcript has been edited for clarity.
Arun Rath: Well, first, give us a handle on this. How bad is the problem?
Bob Seay: Well, Massport officials say there are more than 30,000 additional car trips a day at Logan than before Uber and Lyft. And in 2018, there were 12 million ride-sharing trips, and 5 million of them were empty. They call them deadheads — those are cars without passengers — and a 20 percent increase is forecasted for this year. They say that ride shares now make up about 40 percent of the peak hour traffic at Logan.
Rath: So take us through this plan. How are they going to fix this?
Seay: Well eventually, by December, all Uber and Lyft pickups and drop-offs at Logan will be located in areas all within the central parking garage. Now I said eventually because this is a plan that's going to be phased in. But generally, it will eliminate curbside service and take the cars off the congested roads linking the terminals. In addition, once passengers are dropped off, the ride-sharing vehicles will be matched with passengers leaving the airport. And that's hoping to reduce the number of those "deadhead" trips and the time that passengers have to wait for the rides.
But beginning this Monday, passengers arriving on flights at just terminals A and C will have to walk from those terminals to the garage to get a ride. Now, that could take anywhere from three to five extra minutes.
Massport’s Daniel Gallagher was asked why that won't be an inconvenience. "So here you have your own dedicated, centralized facility with your own curbs, with your own bag checks," he said. "So it's actually going to be quicker by going through the garage than it is waiting in the traffic.”
Seay: Now that's the only change Monday. Departing passengers will still be dropped off at curbside and those arriving at terminals B and E will be using the existing ride app locations, but that will all change on the following Monday, Nov. 4, when arriving passengers using terminals B and E will be asked to get their ride shares in the parking garage. Then beginning the next week, Nov. 11, all drop-offs between 4 a.m. and 10 a.m. will move to the lower level of the terminal at curbside. And by Dec. 9, all drop-offs outside of 4 to 10 a.m. will move to the garage.
Rath: There are new fees that are coming along with this, right?
Seay: Well, that's right. There already is a $3.25 fee for pickups. And $3.25 will be added for drop-offs, but lower — $1.50 — if you agree to share a ride, which they say will be easier with this new parking garage location.
Rath: I think I can imagine the reaction, but how are drivers reacting to this plan?
Seay: Well, many of them that I talked to are skeptical that it will work. They say they still think there will be the same number of trips at Logan Airport. They're a little upset that the taxi drivers aren't involved. Taxi drivers will still be able to use curbside. But Massport officials say that's because they make up less than 4 percent of the traffic problem at Logan compared to the 40 percent caused by Uber and Lyft.
But drivers say they think people will be inconvenienced, especially if you're arriving somewhat late to the airport and you have to catch that 4 p.m. flight. You're going to have to not just be dropped off at the curb, but get across those sky walks or some way to those terminals, which could take you extra time and cause you to lose that flight. So that is one concern. And they also think that people will tend to not, maybe, use Uber and Lyft as much anymore. And that, partly, is by design — Massport officials want to see more people arriving by Logan Express or the Silver Line to take the pressure off the roads there.
Rath: I know we're not alone in the country when it comes to airport congestion problems. Are there any other big cities that have tried anything like this to fix that problem?
Seay: Oh, yes. San Francisco started about a month ago, and they had a pretty rough start, because apparently not all the drivers were informed about the change and they all descended on Sunday night at the airport. There was a lot of confusion and chaos, but I understand that things have died down by now. And I must say that Massport is going to be monitoring the situation very carefully. That's why they're starting slowly with just two terminals, A and C, with just the passengers arriving to see how it works and how they might be able to smooth things out when they eventually involve all of the terminals and all of the passengers.
