If there’s one thing I do a lot of in my professional career… it’s traveling.
So, I’ve become particularly cozy with the Tampa International Airport and I knew that despite the forces against these ride share organizations (due to cutting into their pockets) that it was a matter of time before the court of public option would force them to concede. Why? Because they overpowered the naysayers in media exposure, thereby driving the conversations and ultimately their popularity.
Turns out, up until recently, it wasn’t even legal for them to do it.
The Tampa Bay Business Journal helped explain:
Uber and Lyft will begin operating legally at Tampa International Airport on August 3, when an agreement between the transportation network companies and Tampa International Airport goes into effect. There will be a small fee between the car service and the airport but finally, after years of trying through Florida Legislature, it will be fully legal to use Uber/Lyft from the airport. 1
Up until this time, every time drivers picked someone up from TIA they were risking a $1000 fine.
Now that Uber and Lyft are regulated through the government, the body that behind the enforcement of keeping Uber and Lyft out of TIA, the Public Transportation Commission (PTC) will even be dissolved.
Though this is a win for people wanting to use these services at the airport, Tampa is still charging more than other major airports in the state of Florida—something Uber looks to discuss after the 2018-2019 year.
Despite some shoddy press this past year, these services of on-demand rides from your smart phone shaking up the public transportation system and it’s good to see Tampa Airport finally playing nice with something inevitable. To go without it would have made TIA look undesirable if travelers had to go through archaic means to get transportation to and from the airport.
This was a good move by TIA and the legislation around it to go with the flow and the times and realizes that without these services would make TIA look outdated and lead to frustrated travelers (who are already most likely irritated from travel).
With airport news, this year being mostly negative, this will make the stress of travel a little easier for the people coming in and out of Tampa.
1 J. Irwin “TIA travelers soon can grab an Uber or Lyft legally, but it will cost them” bizjournals.com Jul 21, 2017, Web, July 27, 2017