Catching a Lyft or Uber at McAllen Airport? Soon it’ll cost you $3 more

McAllen city leaders recently approved an added fee for ride shares at its Internationl Airport. Here’s what you need to know.

Need a ride?

Uber and Lyft have become increasingly popular over the last few years by providing convenient transportation options across the country. Whether you need a ride home from a concert, you’re visiting a friend, or you need to get back and forth from the airport, rideshare apps allow you to set your pickup and dropoff locations in just a few clicks. For McAllen International Airport travelers, though, those clicks are going to cost an extra $3 in the future.

City leaders announced on Monday that a small added charge on all rideshare apps at McAllen had been approved, beginning with a $1 fee that will increase every 90 days until the full $3 fee is applied to all Uber and Lyft rides. As of writing, it’s unclear as to when this new policy will take effect. However, the city wanted to inform people in advance that these fees will be collected in the future. The idea behind the new charge is to accommodate for necessary airport upkeep. My San Antonio notes that ridesharers are currently the only group who do not help cover the costs of McAllen’s general maintenance. Below, we’ll go over how fees are gathered from other travelers—sometimes in ways we don’t realize.

During Monday’s meeting, McAllen International Airport Director Jeremy Santoscoy said, “We are an enterprise fund that does not get subsidized by the city, so this will help us as we continue to move forward with some type of debt service for our terminal expansion.” Essentially, the airport pays for its own upkeep; none of it is funded by the municipality’s budget. This is an increased area of strain at the moment due to the upcoming $176 million airport expansion that will see new security inspection areas, baggage claim terminals, and ticket counters.

Airport fees are more common than you might think

The announcement of McAllen International Airport’s pending $3 Uber and Lyft fee sparked curiosity over airport charges and how they’re typically collected. Usage fees are a standard part of air travel—they’re collected through common things like leaving your car at short-term and long-term parking lots, boarding a flight, and renting a car. Isaac Tawil, McAllen’s City Manager, explained the upcoming rideshare fee, saying, “It would be no different than a fee charge for somebody who parks their car there, no different than somebody who takes a taxi from there, who rents a car from there. All of those passengers who buy a ticket and pass through the airport — are paying use fees.”

Given that an average of 4,000 Uber rides are taken to and from the airport every month, there’s potential to gain a significant sum by tacking on the small charge to each of these (plus however many Lyft rides are passing through as well). How significant a sum? According to Jeremy Santoscoy, “The $3 fee is estimated to give us about $4 million in debt service.” Despite this advantage, the city commissioner tried to forgo the fee altogether, though it ended up passing on a 6-to-1 vote.