Uber will stop picking up passengers from TF Green (Providence) Airport on May 1st in response to a stupidly greedy $6.00 fee levied by airport officials on Uber drivers for airport pickups. Taxi cabs only pay $1.50.
“T.F. Green doubled an already high fee on Rhode Islanders who use ridesharing services at the airport, making it the highest fee at any airport in the country,” Uber said in a statement. “For nearly a year, Uber has tried to work with the airport in order to come to a reasonable agreement that ensures that Rhode Island residents and visitors can get an affordable ride, but unfortunately, the airport has been unwilling to do so.”
The second highest fee nationwide is $5.00 at O’Hare Airport in Chicago, the pick-up fee at Logan Airport in Boston is $3.25. But Rhode Island is SIX DOLLARS!!! And this is EXACTLY how we do business in Rhode Island. We don’t innovate, we don’t work to be more efficient, we don’t tighten the belt. We do things the Rhode Island way. We raise fees and we raise taxes while we screw the citizens so state employees can eat high on the hog and someone’s cousin can have a no show job with a full pension.
I’m sure TF Green will have some government hack response that doesn’t deserve the light of day so I’m not even looking for their response because it will be garbage. This is just typical Rhode Island “I know a guy” government shakedown hackery at its finest.
And get this, the Rhode Island Airport Corporation is a quasi-public agency, and is a division of the RI Commerce Corporation. Remember the RI Commerce Corporation? Those were the geniuses who brought us the Cooler and Warmer debacle.
You can’t make this stuff up. Only in Rhode Island can we find state workers who are dumb enough and greedy enough to pull a stunt like this.
At least Giovanni Feroce, the former Alex & CEO who is running for governor, gets how stupid this fee is.
