Uber drivers and passengers are complaining about long wait times at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport's new ride-share pickup areas Thursday night.
During the peak Thursday night period for business travelers returning home from work trips and others, some passengers said they waited as long as 40 minutes or more for ride-share drivers to pick them up, while drivers were stuck in long queues to enter the economy parking lot.
Drivers also ended up having to pay parking fees for exceeding the 15-minute grace period amid the traffic congestion and long waits to exit the economy lots.
Hartsfield-Jackson rolled out the new pickup areas for Uber and Lyft Wednesday, under a system they said would be in place for the next 18 months or so while massive canopies are constructed over the airport curbside areas. The construction is taking up lanes of the passenger pickup and drop-off area, causing congestion.
The new pickup locations also require passengers to walk across a terminal roadway and through parking garages to the economy lots to get picked up by Uber or Lyft.
The new Uber and Lyft pickup areas are in the domestic Terminal North and Terminal South economy parking lots.
Uber says it has expressed concerns about the problems Thursday night to Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.
It recommends that during peak periods, passengers without checked bags exit the airport at the international terminal, where they can be picked up curbside.
Hartsfield-Jackson's operations team is discussing the issue, according to airport spokesman Reese McCranie.
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