Regarding Rideshare At MSP Airport
A2024-04: Regarding Rideshare At MSP Airport
Adopted In : 2024
Topics : Transportation
WHEREAS, the Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC) has authority over the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP); and
WHEREAS, the Air Carrier Access Act and Americans with Disabilities Act require all US airports to ensure that their services and facilities are accessible to people with disabilities; and
WHEREAS, rideshare services, dominated by Uber and Lyft, are the primary means for arriving passengers to leave the airport; and
WHEREAS, prior to December 2023, rideshare drivers picked up passengers along one long driveway with direct access to the curb at Terminal 1; and
WHEREAS, after December 2023, the MAC changed the traffic pattern to double the available space for pickups at Terminal 1, requiring arriving drivers to park in a covered area across a busy lane of nonstop traffic from the curb; and
WHEREAS, blind individuals locate their rideshare drivers independently using a series of non-visual techniques that necessitate direct communication with arriving vehicles, while sighted passengers can spot their vehicle from afar and walk directly to it; and
WHEREAS, attempting to have a driver pull up to the curb disrupts the traffic pattern and creates confusion for other passengers and drivers; therefore
BE IT RESOLVED by the National Federation of the Blind of Minnesota, in convention assembled this 3rd day of November, 2024, in the city of St. Paul, that this organization call upon the Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC) to modify the existing traffic pattern to be more accessible to all passengers, including those with disabilities such as blindness; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this organization urge the MAC to collaborate with the National Federation of the Blind of Minnesota before making further modifications to rideshare traffic patterns.