Lambert Cabbies, Reed Seek Waiver of Monthly Fee Amid Steep Passenger Decline at Airport

ST. LOUIS COUNTY — With air travel taking a big hit from the coronavirus outbreak, taxi companies are pressing St. Louis Lambert International Airport to temporarily waive the $246 monthly permit fee for cab drivers dealing with a large drop in passengers themselves.

“The situation is dire, and they are talking about losing their homes,” Mark Levison, the attorney for a consortium of taxi companies, said of the drivers in a letter Monday to Lambert director Rhonda Hamm-Niebruegge.

Levison said the Lambert drivers with passenger pickup permits have seen their workload drop to one or two trips a day from four or five. That follows an earlier drop in passengers after ride-sharing companies Uber and Lyft were allowed to operate at Lambert in 2017.

Aldermanic President Lewis Reed, a city Airport Commission member, has thrown his political weight behind the cabbies’ appeal, contacting Mayor Lyda Krewson about the issue.

Hamm-Niebruegge in an interview said “at this point we can’t consider it.” She said the cabbies’ request is one of many from airport restaurants, shops and other businesses that she has had to turn down. Airlines have even sought a break on their landing fees, she said.

“I’ve got every tenant out here asking to waive their” minimum annual guarantee to Lambert, she said.

She said the airport has to be consistent and added that bond covenants on some of Lambert’s debt require that fees be collected.

She said, however, that 40 taxi drivers as of Friday had chosen to suspend their permits for a month to avoid paying the fee and could come back later without penalty. They could continue to do that in future months if they chose, she said. Levison said that’s always allowed and is no concession.

On Tuesday, airport spokesman Jeff Lea said the number of passengers getting on and off flights at Lambert this week was an estimated 80% to 90% below the same period a year ago. That was much worse than the already daunting figures released just last week.

Lea added that Lambert currently anticipates a 14% reduction in flights by mid-April below last year’s total and the decline could increase.

Levison in an interview said the cost to the airport for waiving the cabbies’ fees would be just over $45,000 a month.

That, he said, is reasonable at a time when the airline industry and American airports are seeking up to $50 billion and $10 billion in bailouts, respectively, from Congress.

Meanwhile, Levison pointed out that the metro Taxicab Commission, which regulates cabs generally in St. Louis and St. Louis County, has extended the expiration date of taxi permits and taxi drivers’ licenses by 60 days to help drivers coping with the loss of business due to the pandemic.

———

Visit the St. Louis Post-Dispatch at www.stltoday.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.