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May 18, 2021 - 4:36 PM
As of July 1, passengers travelling to and from Kelowna International Airport by cab or Lucky to Go ride hailing service will have to pay $2 more for that trip.
Kelowna city council approved the new fees yesterday, May 17.
“The actual cost for the cab operator will go down because they currently pay a $638 annual fee,” Phillip Elchitz, senior manager of airport operations, told iNFOnews.ca. “The new annual fee will be $50. The balance of the cost will flow through to the customer.”
That means each cab will save $588 a year.
Lucky to Go is the only ride hailing company currently operating at the airport but others, like Uber, are expected to come on board in the future.
Shuttle services are not affected by the news fees.
Passengers arriving in Kelowna will be able to get cabs at the same location as they do now, by turning left as they leave by the north exit door. The ride hailing parking spaces will be just as close but on the right side of the doorway.
Cabs will place stickers in their vehicles notifying passengers of the $2 charge and a QR code will be included so passengers can provide feedback to the airport, Elchitz said. The fee will be added to the base rate the cab charges.
Similar signs will be posted at the airport exit.
Cabs will report how many passengers they pick up and drop off more than three kilometres from the airport and pay their fees accordingly.
The airport has licence recognition equipment already in place for a number of other reasons, Elchitz said. That will allow them to do audits to check that the cabs are paying correctly.
This is a system that’s similar to many other North American airports and the fee is comparable or slightly lower than other airports, Shayne Dyrdal, the airport’s senior administration, financial and corporate services manager, told council.
The new fees are expected to generate more revenue for the airport than the existing system, Elchitz said. That will help keep the fees charged to airlines down and serve to attract more carriers to the airport.
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