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As of this past weekend, drivers who work for the ridesharing service Uber can pick up passengers from the Regina airport; previously, they could only drop off passengers there.
Regina Airport Authority CEO James Bogusz confirmed the news on Monday morning, saying the company just got its business licence approved for the dropoffs.
“Literally on the (Uber) app itself, you wouldn’t have been able to book for a pickup, only a dropoff,” he said. “Now you can do both (at the airport).”
He said Uber drivers, and those with other commercial services that pick up and drop off passengers, should use the commercial vehicle lane, which is inside and part of the short-term parking lot.
“If you know where the short-term lot is, you certainly know where the commercial vehicle lane is,” Bogusz said. “It literally is just right across the crosswalk from where the baggage area is at the terminal.”
The lane is marked off with signage to separate it from parking stalls, he said.
“When you call a taxi company that’s not Capital Cabs (which has its own dedicated pickup lane) or you want to get an Uber to the airport, you use (that lane)” while waiting to be picked up, Bogusz explained.
Uber and commercial drivers don’t have to pay the parking fee for being in the short-term lot and having taken a ticket at the parking gate, as long as they leave within 20 minutes of entering, he said.
Another change that Uber and like companies will see at the airport is a $2 per-pay-use fee, which applies to each pickup and dropoff, Bogusz said. It was introduced June 1, but hasn’t been applied yet at the airport.
It replaces the old, annual fee system. Under that one, a company would pay the airport $600 per year per vehicle for picking up or dropping off fares.
“The companies who operate those types of services, they can (now) decide for themselves whether or not they want to eat the fee or pass it onto the customer,” Bogusz said.
In an emailed statement to 980 CJME, Uber said the $2 fee will be passed on to passengers. When a passenger pays the fee, it “will be collected and passed along (to) the airport. It won’t impact driver earnings in any way.”
The company launched in Regina on May 15.
