Staley Cornell

Excellent idea. This should work.

sbm12

Other than getting in the way of other travelers this really isn't different from sitting in the cell lot until the pax calls as they walk off the plane.

wds17

Haters gonna hate! My pax call as they land and I am sitting on my couch at home. I live 8 minutes from Logan. By the time I get through the tunnel, pax are walking off the plane and through the terminal. As I enter the airport and if I am running ahead of schedule I kill some time and drive slowly through Terminals A and B arrivals, going the prescribed 10 MPH. I always look for pedestrians and stop if they are in or about the enter the crosswalk. If I need a little more time I will pull over and wait at the end of the Terminal B loop - away from any other passengers so I do not disrupt / get in the way of anyone else. Once I get the "walking out" text I swoop into Terminal C and time it just right so we both get to the curb at the exact same time.

I have never once been chased away by a Statie as they routinely do to Terminal C curb hoggers. The cell phone lot is for amateurs who come down the New Hampshire and wait there and have a picnic lunch.

sbm12

If you're using your home driveway as the same thing then fine. For someone driving in from further afield the lot is very useful. Or should we all park in your driveway instead??

Out of my Element

The cell phone lot is good if you have a long drive in and your peeps are going through Immigration.

Who wants to do a pickup at Terminal C for me on Sunday at 5:30AM?

Yahtzee

Oh my arm! It's broken.

Out of my Element

You do have Yahtzee!

Out of my Element

Terminal C pickup has become very difficult. Massport is blaming it on all the uber/lyft pickups and that seems to make sense to me. I was picking up my wife on a recent Sunday night and couldn't get close to the pickup area or even the curb between C and E. Had to go to E and park there and make her schlep her bags to there in order to meet me.

rob2507

Massport proposes major response to congestion at Logan
Their plan is to move the TNC pickup/dropoffs to the central garage, freeing up space on the roadways.

Sallycat

Move Uber/Lyft to Central Parking, maybe it'll help... but to me, they aren't the major driver of the congestion - it's just the growth of the airport in general. What's the difference between a taxi driver, TNC driver, or just a regular driver under this congestion issue? As a near-weekly visitor to BOS, I feel as if the taxi/TNC drivers "get it" and know where to go and are called on when needed, versus the friends & family pickup route, which to me is way more cause for congestion. Why is this all on TNC (and taxi) users, versus people who are picked up by their friends/family? I live in Southie (public transportation is a joke to begin with) and I live 3.5 miles from the airport. At this second, Google Maps is telling me would take me 11 minutes to drive/Uber to Logan right now, versus a 45 minute, 3-seat ride on public transportation with luggage (9/10 bus to Broadway/Andrew -> red line to South Station -> Silver Line.) Heck yeah, I'm getting into a car to get there (whether it's my husband driving me for the cost of the toll back into the city or Uber/Lyft/Taxi for under $20).

Anyway, I digress.

Out of my Element

Sally: The change in congestion has gone up drastically in the past 2 years. At a much greater pace than increases in flights or passenger numbers has risen. This is also the same time frame where they started allowing Lyft/Uber to do pickups at Logan. Many of those Uber/Lyft customers used to be MBTA passengers who have discovered the same time savings you mention, hence the increase in passenger car traffic.

dtremit

Are you sure of that? My impression is that they've taken most of their business from decimating taxi business, but I may be wrong. Sadly the MBTA hasn't published their "blue book" of ridership statistics since 2014 so there's no real accounting of any decline.

Even looking at those pre-Uber numbers, Airport Station saw about 7400 boardings a day, and the Silver Line saw about 2200. That's 9600 departures, presumably matched by 9600 arrivals. Even if we assume weekday levels 365 days a year, then the MBTA only completed ~7M passenger trips a year prior to Lyft/Uber, as compared with their cited 12M for ride shares today.

Boston also had the highest percentage of passengers using high occupancy modes of transit last year, per Massport's own statistics; I believe that number includes subway/bus and things like shared shuttles and Logan Express. That doesn't seem consistent with a huge decline in transit use.

Personally, I think Massport's current requirements are causing a lot of the congestion, and that they could probably fix much of the issue by just suspending them. After dropping off a passenger, they require Uber and Lyft drivers to drive out to a lot near the Rental Car Center prior to accepting another ride. That prevents Uber and Lyft's matching system from working, and dissuades drivers from sticking around for a return passenger at busy times. If they removed the requirement, drivers could make a single loop around and find a new ride in that time.

I have no objection to a $5 fee; it seems reasonable, and will probably push more people toward transit. But the central parking plan creates a huge headache with dubious benefits, and seems more punitive than effective.