Growing dispute over ride-sharing apps and Phoenix airport

PHOENIX (AP) — A dispute between ride-hailing companies and the city of Phoenix deepened on Monday, as Arizona state lawmakers introduced legislation that would bar raising fees on Uber and Lyft at Sky Harbor airport.

The latest salvo in the growing fight is an attempt by state lawmakers to keep a free-flow of ride-sharing companies serving the main airport in one of the U.S.'s largest cities.

Uber and Lyft have threatened to stop service at the airport if the new fees are imposed.

The legislation was introduced by a bipartisan group of House lawmakers, led by Republican Rep. Travis Grantham, aiming to prevent new fees Phoenix wants to impose even if the state Supreme Court rules that they are legal. Grantham cited the threat that ride-sharing companies will stop taking travelers to and from the airport as one of the reasons he pushed the proposal.

Phoenix wanted to add the fees on Feb. 1. But they are on hold after Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich found last month that they are “very likely” unconstitutional.

Airports around the nation inundated by new ride-hailing companies displacing traditional taxis are struggling to adjust and to determine how to replace revenue they previously received from taxis. Taxis made nearly 800,000 trips at the Phoenix airport in 2015. But last year, they made about half that number. Shared-ride vans like SuperShuttle have seen even deeper drops.

Meanwhile, ride-hailing company pickups from Sky Harbor went from 1.3 million in 2017, the first full year they operated there, to 2.3 million last year.

The new $4 pickup and drop-off fees won’t be imposed while the state Supreme Court considers whether they are legal under a 2018 constitutional amendment that banned new fees on services, as Brnovich determined. The city...