Airport rides getting faster. Have you noticed? (Photo: Lyft)
When I got off the plane late last night at SFO and called up Lyft for a ride home I was surprised when the app told me that the driver was only one minute away. I was still deep in the terminal and had to hustle to get to the curbside to keep him from waiting.
When calling up Lyft or Uber at the airport, have you noticed that your car shows up a lot faster these days? Well, there’s a good reason for that.
Starting last month both Lyft and Uber rolled out something called “Rematch” at four California airports: San Francisco International, Oakland International, Mineta San Jose International and Los Angeles International. This new functionality allows drivers to drop off AND pick up passengers simultaneously at the airport.
In the past drivers could enter airport grounds to pick up OR drop off passengers, but they could not do both. That meant passengers had to wait 5-8 minutes for the driver to get to the airport from a remote lot.
Uber and Lyft pick-ups at LAX changing (Image: Thomas Hawk/Flickr)
Officials at LAX said that they allow the practice to further reduce traffic in the central terminal area. In a press release, they said:
“Rematch works by increasing the number of persons who can be picked up during a single TNC [ridesharing] driver’s trip into LAX. Under regular TNC operating policies, TNC vehicles can enter the airport only to pick-up or drop-off passengers, but not both. For TNC companies authorized to use Rematch technology, following a drop-off trip, drivers may see a Rematch notification informing them of a passenger pick-up before exiting. If there is no Rematch notification, then the driver will exit the terminal area following his/her drop-off. Rematch requests will only be issued within the airport, and only to vehicles with confirmed drop-offs.”
Sounds like a good plan to me. Now if they can only do something about all the crowding at the designated pick up areas at LAX and SFO. It’s getting crazy congested curbside at peak hours. Have you noticed? Please leave your comments below.
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One of the main problems with this is passengers requesting their pickups before they get their bags. They believe the car will take time to get there, but it is already there. The driver cannot wait per regulations and the ride gets cancelled because the passenger isn’t there. The passenger then gets charged a cancel fee of five dollars, which nets the driver $3.75.
Second problem specifically at SFO: All passengers are directed to a single door at SFO terminals resulting in a log jam at the designated door of each terminal.
Note to all SFO passengers: Call, do not text, your driver and designate a door on departure level that is not jammed for your pick up and order the car when you are at the curb ready to go. The wait will be less than five minutes.
It is amazing how many people are curbside when flights come in at SFO. I have to put on my driving glasses to spot a license plate quickly. Funny how two parties try to get in the same car on occasion. I sometimes walk to the adjacent terminal at SFO if not encumbered with large luggage. The surge usually reduces in those few minutes also.
This explains why my uber had just passed T2 last week at LAX and could stay on departures the level. Instead of a 10+ minute wait the driver was around in just a couple of minutes. Nice post.
ATL now has a designated ride share location. Has for about a month. The ATL is my home airport so I don’t use it but I see the signs and people being guided to the spot. Also, New Orleans has had something like this for a while or at least I experienced it lossy October for a convention. All pickups and drop offs were in a designated spot.
Hey Z: Rematch did not go into effect til late August… so let us know what happens on your next trip.
Must have missed it — last time flying through Oakland at the beginning of August took 20 min to get an Uber (surcharge was high on Lyft) at midnight. Alaska again had my bag on the carousel by the time I got there, so no lag time there.
Thanks, Dean! Nice to hear from you 🙂 See ya on the street!
I definitely noticed the faster pick-up time at SFO on my last trip. I arrived on a Friday afternoon at the 5:00pm “rush hour” and my Lyft driver was there in one minute!! However, I also noticed the larger crowds waiting curbside at Terminal 3 so spotting your driver is a bit more challenging than in the past. But, that’s a minor inconvenience compared to the time saved waiting for pick-up. And, for what it’s worth, my Lyft pick-ups at home during the week are also much shorter recently too. A good trend!