DFW Airport opens door to Uber, Lyft

While the Fort Worth City Council is still deciding what rules should apply to Uber and Lyft, the popular app-based car services, Dallas/Fort Worth Airport has decided to be Switzerland on the matter.

Last week, DFW began allowing any for-hire vehicles permitted to operate in the Metroplex to pick up fares at its bustling terminals.

That’s a sea change from its previous practice, which was to allow traditional taxicabs only to circle the airport in search of customers, and to tightly control the number of cars in circulation.

Now drivers who participate in these “sharing economy” companies are permitted to pick up passengers at the airport. In the past, such drivers were only permitted to drop off fares — if they played by the rules.

Still, it won’t be a free-for-all outside the terminals. Uber and Lyft cars, like cabs, will be relegated to staging areas while they await the opportunity to find a fare.

DFW changed its vehicle-for-hire policy in response to requests from its owner cities, leaving Dallas and Fort Worth responsible for establishing regulations.

But that’s easier said than done.

Fort Worth has been trying for months to determine whether Uber and Lyft drivers, many of whom drive their own vehicles, should be subject to the same rules and insurance requirements as their counterparts who drive taxicabs.

Dallas has been issuing permits to Uber and Lyft drivers since May. Those permits make it easier for their holders to get a sticker that gives them permission to operate at DFW. And that sticker means they can legally collect passengers at DFW and throughout the region, including Fort Worth and Arlington.

So if Fort Worth is looking to set some parameters for vehicle-for-hire drivers, it’s already behind the curve.

The beauty of these innovative companies is that they offer a desirable service at a competitive rate. But the reasonable prices are at least in part due to the companies’ ability to avoid some of the regulations that apply to traditional cab services.

Commenting on a draft proposal in April, Fort Worth Councilman Sal Espino remarked that any city regulatory program would be designed to “level the playing field.”

But if Fort Worth doesn’t settle on a policy soon, the field may be set already.

This story was originally published August 11, 2015 at 4:19 PM with the headline "DFW Airport opens door to Uber, Lyft."