Ride & Car Sharing: Uber, Lyft, Sidecar, Zipcar, Relay Rides

I'm a bit torn on this one, since raising fees on cars ultimately *may* get people to mode shift onto transit. But this is a regressive tax since all younger (less wealthy) people are more likely to use uber and not own cars, while the T is not operable at all hours or just requires too many transfers. The wealthy suburbanites will continue to have their spouse drop them off at the airport (why the hell are we not taxing all those dropoff cars clogging up the roadways??). If they really need to raise funds, we need to put in a toll gantry in Logan's roadways and tax EVERY car $5 for entering the airport, not just uber/lyfts (which alreaady are moved away from curbside space to the central garage). Then use some of the money to fund the APM or better shuttle buses to make the blue line actually viable.
Wealthy suburbanites have black cars not spouses driving to the airport.
 
Wealthy suburbanites have black cars not spouses driving to the airport.
The less wealthy ones don't (always) though, and the traffic data at Logan suggests this is a pretty high volume. As a (former I guess) suburbanite I can also say anecdotally that whenever I come back to Boston and fly into Logan, it's family picking me up at the airport. Growing up we used those car services if we were going to be gone for a while and didn't want to deal with long term parking, and/or had a lot of bags, but for any small trips or business trips it was the family express to Logan.
 
Last edited:
Can someone explain the reasoning behind charging a different fee for Uber to begin with? There's logic in it but I can't figure it out.

I see in the article that cab fees are also increasing, from $2.25 today to $5.50 one-way by 2027, but cabs don't have to pay for a drop-off, whereas TNCs pay both ways.

The other difference is, while cabs can drop you right at the terminal, TNCs have to drop you off and pick you up in Central Parking.

Oh, and the reasoning for the increase is ridiculous. How much of the additional revenue will go to fixing up Express stops vs. using it for a new garage and charging stations? I would guess pennies on the dollar.
 

Back
Top