By Beth Treffeisen
An increase in the rideshare surcharge to and from Logan Airport took effect Tuesday, raising the fee from $3.25 to $5.50, driving up passenger travel costs.
The deal between Uber, Lyft, and the Massachusetts Port Authority was struck in March to help alleviate airport traffic congestion.
The fee increase will fund $1.5 billion in capital improvements at the airport, which will better accommodate rideshare apps and improve customer experience.
As of now, parking, Logan Express, and rideshare app demand regularly exceeds the airport鈥檚 capacity, Massport has said. At peak times, airport tunnels, roadways and curbs are backed up.
At the hearing in March, Massport officials said the problems will only worsen within the next decade as more and more people rely on rideshare apps. Already, roughly 30% of airport passengers rely on them, one official said.
The proposed improvements will increase HOV capacity, build remote terminals to speed up passenger access to their gates, improve airport roadways and curbs to reduce congestion, and expanding parking capacity.
As part of the deal, Uber and Lyft are also adding new ride options to get more passengers in each vehicle including restarting shared rides at the airport, developing a last-mile program to encourage using Logan Express, and piloting new technologies to improve customer experience.