Taxi drivers don’t want to give up their prime airport pickup spots to Uber and Lyft

Taxi drivers may soon have to pick up passengers at the airport in a different area, farther from the airport doors, as the city plans to swap out the taxi zone and the rideshare zone. The Taxi Workers Alliance of Pennsylvania is suing the city in an attempt to prevent the zone change.

The proposed change would move taxi pickup from Zone 5, which is just outside baggage claim in Terminal A, to Zone 7, which requires travelers to cross the street bordering the terminal. Taxi drivers say that would take away their visibility, which they argue is more important to the taxi business than it is to Uber or Lyft, because taxis can’t rely on an app to connect with customers.

“If we leave Zone 5 and go anywhere else at the airport, [we’ll be] out of sight, out of mind,” said Abdul Manan, a driver for seven years.

Taxi drivers are also concerned that the new location would be a challenge for people with physical disabilities who want to use a taxi. The Philadelphia International Airport’s mapping tool labels the route from Zone 5 to Zone 7 as accessible.

Traditional taxis have already seen their business decimated by the emergence of rideshare apps such as Uber and Lyft, as well as the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, and think this will take away even more business. Before the pandemic hit, about 1,350 cabs were in service. As of November 2022, there were 564.

“This may be the nail in the coffin” for taxis, Eli Gabay, the lawyer representing the alliance, said in an interview. “The airport is an aspect of keeping that industry alive.”

The taxi alliance’s lawsuit, filed in mid-January, says the change was announced at a meeting Jan. 16 and alleges that the change violates the Philadelphia Home Rule Charter by improperly enforcing regulations, as well as the U.S. Constitution by not giving the drivers due process.

A spokesperson for the airport said the city cannot comment on pending litigation.

The city told drivers it’s changing the zones because rideshare passengers are currently required to walk across the street and could be hit in a marked crosswalk, the complaint says.

“Proper use of this sidewalk eliminates the danger cited by the defendant for rideshare passengers,” it says. “For that matter, any such danger posed in crossing the street by any would-be passengers is essentially the same for taxicabs or for rideshare passengers.”

“We’re not asking too much,” said Ahmed Mohsen, a Philadelphia taxi driver for more than a decade, as he waited outside the airport for a passenger Wednesday morning. “People headed to meetings [from a flight], they want to just run through the door” and into a car, he said.

Mohsen owns his taxi medallion — the certificate that allows taxis to operate legally. Many drivers have one and took out massive loans to finance it. The peak price of a medallion was $545,000 in 2014 and has plummeted to the low five-figures since ridesharing companies came to town. “That’s a lifetime of savings” gone, he said.

Amadou Diallo has been driving his taxi for about 20 years. Before Uber and Lyft came to Philly, he would drive about five jobs a day. Now he’s down to two or three, he said.

Asked why he still drives a taxi despite the challenges, he also noted the cost of the medallion. “I want to own my business,” Diallo said. “I’ve done this over 20 years. I love the job.”

Alassan Jallo, a taxi driver who put his name in as an individual plaintiff on the lawsuit against the city, said he’ll have to reconsider his career if the move to Zone 7 becomes final. “That’s when I’m going to decide what to do next,” he said.

But ridesharing is a path that he would never pursue, he said. The taxi feels safer, he said. Gabay, the lawyer, made that note, as well, pointing to the camera in each taxi, and the partition between drivers and passengers.

Manan, the driver who started about seven years ago, never owned a medallion, but leases one for $150 to $175 a week, with the price fluctuating throughout the year. He entered the taxi industry about the same time rideshare companies were gaining popularity in Philadelphia. He doesn’t necessarily want them to go away, he said, but he wants a more even playing field.

Before driving, Manan was a salesman, and he had been laid off multiple times from different companies.

“I was trying something else where I have control over my schedule [and keep the] ability to provide for my family,” said Manan, a husband and father of three children. “It’s a decent job, it pays the bills, but we need to find a way to keep it sustained.”