A plan to charge shuttle and limousine services a fee for each drop-off and pickup at the Cleveland Hopkins International Airport cleared a key vote Wednesday, setting the plan up for enactment in July.
City Council’s Transportation Committee voted 3-2 to support the plan, which airport leaders say could raise as much as $1.8 million a year to help pay operational costs at Hopkins.
Airport officials want to collect a $4 fee from off-site parking operators, hotel shuttles and limousine companies for each drop-off and pickup they make.
Uber and Lyft drivers and taxis already pay the fee.
Off-site shuttles — for Park Place, Park ‘N Fly, hotels, limos and other companies – now pay $550 a year for each vehicle they use to pick up and drop off passengers, regardless of how many trips are made or how many passengers are carried.
Patrick Keenan, a spokesman for Americab, spoke in support of the fee Wednesday, saying that extending it to limos and shuttles would help level the playing field among ride providers.
Rideshare services and taxis account for 63 percent of the passengers at Hopkins but contribute about 95 percent of the total revenue the airport collects from ride providers.
The airport would begin collecting the fee in January 2019.