A plan to allow ride-hailing services such as Uber and Lyft to compete in the car-for-hire business at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) has been put on hold.
The Los Angeles City Council voted Wednesday to examine a plan that was proposed last month by the LAX Board of Commissioners to give ride-hailing services the go-ahead for passenger pickup at the nation’s largest airport, according to the Los Angeles Times. The council’s decision to take a closer look effectively stalls the proposal to give Uber and Lyft full access to LAX, a proposal that might have otherwise gone into effect as soon as this month. The council pulled rank amid mounting concern over seemingly lax background checks that hold drivers for such services to a lower standard than the city’s 2,300 licensed taxi drivers.
“I could not care less if the vehicle picking up passengers has a checkered paint job or a pink mustache or numbers on the back,” Councilman Paul Krekorian said during the council meeting, according to the Times. “But it’s our responsibility to make sure that person is safe and is treated with dignity.”
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[LAX gives Uber and Lyft the green light for passenger pickup]
The council’s decision followed a report published earlier this week by the Los Angeles Times that called attention to Uber’s oversight of its drivers. Four Uber drivers, who had been ticketed by LAX police over the past year, had troubling criminal histories that included convictions for child exploitation, identity theft, manslaughter and driving under the influence — convictions that would have barred them from getting a taxi permit in the city, according to the newspaper.
A taxi industry representative had given the criminal histories to the council.
Uber’s chief security officer, Joe Sullivan, said in a statement last month that the company’s background checks “stack up well” against others in the industry.
It was Krekorian who introduced a motion to look at public safety concerns.
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“Given the security and safety concerns unique to the airport and the surrounding area, it is in our view that [transportation network companies] currently lack the necessary regulatory framework to do business at LAX,” he wrote to the board in May, according to CBS Los Angeles. “We would therefore oppose any potential agreement between the Los Angeles World Airports and TNCs that does not incorporate a regulatory framework substantially similar to the one imposed on taxi companies.”
Share this articleShareUber and Lyft’s lower-cost car services, such as UberX, are permitted to drop off passengers at LAX but not pick them up — making pickups essentially a monopoly for the city’s taxi drivers. The airport commission’s decision last month laid the groundwork to give such services full access to LAX, allowing them to drop off and pick up passengers at designated areas on the airport’s upper departure level for a $4-per-trip fee and monthly licensing expense, according to the Los Angeles Times.
But the city council voted Wednesday, 11-2, to take control over the decision. It now has 20 days to review the plan before it must either approve it or send it back to the airport commission for revision.
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Lyft spokeswoman Chelsea Wilson said in a statement that city officials and consumers “have all made it clear that it’s time for ridesharing to come to LAX.”
“We urge the council to move quickly and make options like Lyft available for Los Angeles travelers,” she said.
Should the city council ultimately decide to approve the plan, LAX would become to the largest airport in the country where such services have full access.
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