DFW charging tolls for airport access is anti-consumer
 

Do you realize that DFW is the only airport in the country or anywhere that I'm aware of that charges people, not cabs, hotels, limos...etc, to pick up and drop off our friends and families flying in and out of DFW. I spend over $40 amonth on tolls going in and out and that's not parking just going in, dropping off and picking up. Residents of Fort Worth and Dallas should bombard those two Mayors to voice your opinion. Before you think they need the money, consider the 175 MILLION DOLLARS they got for gas leases, not counting the royalties. Time to stop the DFW Cartel!

You seemingly live there, so I guess it's no surprise that you're extra aware. But it's really no different at many airports. ORD, DEN to name a few. DEN is the worst... E-470 is crazy expensive.

There is no charge to pick up or drop off pax at DEN. Completely free. Don't know where you're getting your info.

And I see you edited your post:

As far as E-470, you don't have to take that route.

I'm not talking about toll roads, like Doc said to get into the airport $2. That's not parking that's pulling up to the curb drop off or pick up. When we initially moved there, if you were in and out in less than 30 min, or maybe an hour, it was no charge. It just seems that charging passengers to use a facility that is basically paid for by other taxes and fees is wrong. I don't know, maybe it's me getting old and cranky but it's over $500 a year for me to use the airport plus what they charge in fees and taxes. The only other airport that I'm aware of is Boston but there is a route that you could use with no tolls.

You go to the airport 250 times a year? Wow!

For me, paying $2 a time wouldn't seem like that much, especially if it discouraged others and kept traffic down.

YMMV

It use to be if you entered the South end and exited the north end and you were under 8 minutes (hard to do) they would charge you.

At least 100, maybe a little more but then I come home too, plus friend, family, and business guests.

Hey, slow the speed limit to 35-45 that would cut down the drive through urge.

A few thoughts on this.

1. Yes, it's annoying.
2. The flip side is that unlike most airports, DFW doesn't charge you anything extra to park near the terminal, and even sets aside the closest spaces for pickups and dropoffs, via 1 or 2 hour limits. So when I pick someone up here, I can park my car nearby and go inside to wait for them, as opposed to most other airports where I would be circling endlessly, or stuck in a far-off cell phone lot.
3. For a fee-free pickup or dropoff, head to the Remote South or Remote North parking areas, which are served by shuttle buses and are outside the toll perimeter.
4. I do recall for some years (maybe in the 90s?), there was no toll if you were inside the airport between 8 and 30 minutes, This did seem like the best of both worlds, and if you're lobbying your elected officials, that's the solution I would push for.

Somebody pays for those airport access roads. Depending on the exact nature of the locality, it's part of local property taxes, bonds, per ticket fees and so on. DFW chooses to collect those fees from the people who use those roads. That's good government, not anti-consumer.

The reverse of this is the SFO-BART vs. IAD-Metro example. BART charges an extra fee for the use of the SFO stop to defray the extra costs associated with the airport stop, so that San Francisco area commuters don't get socked with those extra costs. BART is conveniently located and nobody minds the extra fee. IAD, on the other hand, refused to implement the extra fee when it designed the Silver line, so rather than increasing the costs of construction and imposing a surcharge for the IAD stop to have the Metro run into the terminal, the IAD stop will now be across a parking lot. When the line opens, we'll see how many people getting off an international flight lug their stuff across that lot (even if there's a handy automated walkway).

No free lunch.

Well, except that the airport in general does not even make an attempt to allocate costs directly to those who use the specific service provided.

Have a look at the airport's 2016 budget. There's actually lots of interesting stuff there.
www.dfwairport.com/investors/P2_393174.pdf

The parking unit alone brings in $142M, and along with other "cost centers" (profit centers?) of concessions, rental car, and commercial development, brings in $290M. There's no breakdown, but all of these services have a combined operating expense of $122M, so clearly, parking is bringing in a lot more than it costs to provide. Parkers, along with folks just dropping off or picking up, are subsidizing other uses of the airport.

DFW Airport is not funded by any tax revenue- their operational and capital expenses (i.e. TRIP) are covered entirely by landing fees, concessions, and parking revenue. If they eliminated the entry fee, they'd have to increase something else to make up for the lost revenue.