Riding to or from the Nashville International Airport in an Uber or Lyft includes several extra fees tacked on that make it one of the most expensive airports in the country for ride-share services. Combined with extremely high hotel taxes and other practices seemingly designed to gouge tourists, is Nashville really tourist-friendly any longer?
NewsChannel 5 reports that the Metro Finance Office admits the city adds a $2 surcharge to every ride to or from BNA. That money is then transferred to the Music City Center and is being used to pay off debt and for other management costs at the convention center.
That extra charge has been in place since 2007. Over the past three years, the city says the surcharge has generated more than $4 million for the Music City Center.
The airport itself also adds another $5 surcharge, making the total automatic fee add-ons total $7 for each one-way trip. That means Nashville is imposing, one of the highest ride-share fees of major airports in the entire country.
According to Frommer’s, a travel guide site, Nashville’s ride-share surcharges are higher than ones you’ll see in Boston, New York City, Chicago and Los Angeles. Those range from $5 to $10 roundtrip. Welcome to Nashville, where tourists are treated like an ATM by the city!
NewsChannel 5 dug deeper to explore the impact on the Uber and Lyft drivers. Driving for rideshare companies is a livelihood for many, and these rules and fees can dramatically impact their earnings.
NewsChannel 5 reports that the Tennessee Drivers Union properly calls the surcharge fees “outrageous.”
“We Uber and Lyft drivers in Tennessee make the state almost $31 billion in tourism money a year. But the airport has consistently made decisions that hurt and exploit us,” Jeremiah Hill, Co-President TN DRIVERS UNION said.
“Uber and Lyft do not provide us with the anticipated number of passengers which sometimes causes cancellations of airport rides, when BNA has already charged the driver a fee for entering the property. BNA made $14.7 million off of fees charged by Uber and Lyft which are TAKEN AWAY from the wages made by Uber and Lyft drivers — quite literally taken out of our paycheck. We are glad the public is now paying attention to the workers being ripped off by BNA.”
Maybe it’s time for Nashville leaders to reasses the “stick it to tourists” policies that will kill the golden goose eventually by encouraging cost conscious companies to explore other options for conventions and corporate events.
Steve Gill is Publisher of TriStar Daily.
