Local

Man waits, complains about 2 hours for pickup from airport

By Liz Artz
By Liz Artz

ATLANTA — Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport officials are working to figure out a solution to extremely long waits for people using Lyft and Uber rideshare services.

Lyft and Uber drivers were moved to the economy lot on Wednesday to ease congestion during an on-going construction project.

Frequent customers called the newsroom after two hour wait times to get off airport property Thursday night.

The customers said it was so frustrating they won't do it again, saying they'll drive themselves. They told Channel 2's Liz Artz that this looks bad for Uber, Lyft, for the airport and, ultimately, for the city.

Business traveler Gil Wolchock contacted the station after it took him two hours for his Uber driver to get to him and then get off airport property.

"I look at the Uber App, it says two minutes, then 10, the 15 minutes, call my driver, and he says waiting at gate check point where it is all backed up," Wolchock said. "Getting in at midnight tonight and having to work in the morning, I can't do that next week."

TRENDING STORIES:

He said hundreds of cars were feeding into one lane and it was backed up to the entrance.

"Normally we leave our waiting area and have our riders within 5 to 10 minutes," Uber driver Anthony Cooney said. "Ten maximum."

Andrew Gobeil, the airport's spokesperson, said on Thursday night, there were 600 pick-ups during peak hours at the airport.

Today, officials spent the day hashing out a better solution for ride share services during the 18-month construction project.

Airport officials told Artz that one possible solution is establishing a rideshare only lane.

Rideshare customer says it took more than 2 hours to get ride from airport. 

Cooney told Artz that something has to be done, or else, he's afraid of the business he will lose.

"It's going to hurt business hopefully just short term, not long term," Wolchock said.

Travelers also complained about the quarter of a mile walk to economy lot to catch their Uber.

Airport officials say that is the standard distance at other airports like Seattle and San Francisco.

Gobeil assured Artz that there would be a solution by the end of the day.

Friday afternoon, Gobeil released the following statement:

"We recognize last night's delays were unfortunate and we apologize to our guests who were impacted.  We take our title as the world's most efficient airport seriously, and we're doing all we can to maintain and increase that efficiency for our rideshare partners and their passengers.

Our team met through the day today to discuss various mitigation efforts.  We continue to closely monitor the situation and will implement both short and long-term solutions to the challenge posed by increased construction impacts on our roadways."

Cox Media Group

Most Read