Kennerbrah Tries to Price Out Uber

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An amended version of the ordinance circulating ahead of the Kenner City Council meeting Thursday (March 23) proposes fees for ride pickups at Armstrong Airport or any other "transportation facility" in Kenner: $4 for Uber rides; $6 per passenger on shuttle buses; and $10 per trip for limousines and executive sedans.

For companies such as Uber, the $4 pickup fee Kenner charges would be combined with a $4 passenger fee the city of New Orleans imposes, making the combined $8 charge the highest for transportation network companies in the country, an attorney for Uber said in a letter to Kenner City Hall on March 15.

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a bunch of crooks

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"We would likely be forced to shut down operations in Kenner," Uber spokeswoman Evangeline George said Monday if the proposed ordinance were enforced.

Lyft doesn't currently make pickups at Armstrong Airport. About 11.1 million visitors traveled through the airport in 2016. There are an average of 1,400 taxi trips and 900 Uber trips every day, which can surge to 2,800 taxi trips and 1,500 Uber trips at peak times, according to the city.

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Warren Reuther, owner of Airport Shuttle, said his company contracts with Armstrong Airport to provide trips to and from downtown hotels at a set cost to passengers that can't be raised. Adding a $6 per-passenger fee on a company that shuttles about 40,000 passengers would put his company out of business, he said.

Reuther said he consulted with the national Airport Ground Transportation Association, and the $6 fee would make Armstrong Airport "the most expensive airport for shared ride ground transportation fees in all of North America, possibly the world." It might also violate a federal law regulating fees and taxes directed at airport transportation operations, he said.

"Is there a specific reason why the taxicab industry is being exempt from the onerous per person or per trip fees when Airport Shuttle, with a legally binding bid contract, is not?" Reuther said in a letter to the City of Kenner.

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We love our "conservative, pro free market" suburbs, don't we folks?

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"Is there a specific reason why the taxicab industry is being exempt from the onerous per person or per trip fees when Airport Shuttle, with a legally binding bid contract, is not?" Reuther said in a letter to the City of Kenner.

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glad somebody pointed it out

Well if cabs would improve their business model then I would use them

Governments are always going to do their best to stomp out peer to peer economies because they aren't getting their piece of the pie.

these cab companies scared of Uber, the downtown parking lots ready to boot you a minute past your time, and the NOLA meter maids are what you'd have gotten nationwide if Hillary was elected president... these people thrive on pay to play...

The whole idea of gov't doing what's right for the people is fricking laughable.

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We love our "conservative, pro free market" suburbs, don't we folks?

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What I love is seeing a clueless individual try to consider a government imposed fee as "free market."

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Reuther said he consulted with the national Airport Ground Transportation Association, and the $6 fee would make Armstrong Airport "the most expensive airport for shared ride ground transportation fees in all of North America, possibly the world." It might also violate a federal law regulating fees and taxes directed at airport transportation operations, he said.

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Classic NOLA. Doing their best to be the worst at everything

Also Classic NOLA, usually succeeding at being worst. Maybe the cans should have to meet Uber rules if they are trying to level the playing field. Cars can't be older than a few years, driver ratings above a certain star rating or lose their job, fare estimates available before setting foot in the cab....

Vintage Louisiana. Government brings everything down to the lowest common denominator, screw the public. Oh, and mo money to the government to piss away.