Taxi companies blocked from providing services at airport

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Local taxi companies are taking their fight to City Hall, demanding change on the way people are taken to Charlotte-Douglas International Airport.

Several taxi companies contacted Whistleblower 9 to say they're being blocked from providing service at the airport in favor of transportation companies Uber and Lyft, and the group said passenger safety is being compromised because of this decision.

"We are local,” Rudolph Kirk, who operates Diamond Cab in Charlotte, said. “Yet, everyone from out of town, Uber, Lyft, Yellow Cab, can work at our airport."

Kirk provided Whistleblower 9 with documents that show six local taxi companies were blocked from getting permits to pick up passengers at the airport.

Four companies received all of the permits.

"Uber and Lyft are not regulated the same way the taxi cab industry is, yet they have their own parking lot over there?" Anchor Paul Boyd asked Kirk.

"Yeah, they do," Kirk said. "They're able to come and go like regular cabs."
 
He said the problem is that online companies, like Uber and Lyft, run very basic background checks compared to cabs.
 
The taxi industry is regulated and uses an extensive fingerprint-based criminal background check, and drivers are also licensed for the job, required to perform car inspections and maintain proper insurance.
 
"We go through the police department with our checks," Kirk said. "So we know everything is done right. We know it's done by the FBI."  
 
Uber and Lyft insist they are just as safe, and legislation a year ago essentially rubber-stamped their business model in North Carolina.

Airport officials said customer safety is a priority but declined to comment further.
 
However, a spokesperson for the airport provided Whistleblower 9 with a .PDF from a presentation they're about to give to City Council on Monday.
 
"Passengers may schedule taxi service with any taxi provider and any taxi company can drop off passengers at the airport," it reads in part.

That's not good enough for those cab companies that have been blocked from permits.

"The bottom line is allow us to work," Kirk said. "Give us a couple of slots. There's 170 slots out there. We only want 10 or 15 slots. I don't think that's asking too much."
 
Those taxi companies are taking their fight to City Hall on Monday. An airport spokeswoman told Boyd Friday they'll address any concerns at that meeting.

Cox Media Group