Massport, Uber, and Lyft agree to more modest increases for rideshares at Logan

The Massport board approved a rate hike from $3.25 to $5.50 per ride.

Steven Senne / AP, File

March 20, 2025

2 minutes to read

The Massachusetts Port Authority has struck a deal with Uber and Lyft that more modestly increases the surcharge on rides at Logan Airport. The board unanimously approved the changes Thursday morning.

The new rate change will raise Uber and Lyft surcharges at Logan from $3.25 to $5.50 for trips to and from the airport beginning July 1. The second proposed increase of $7.50, which would have become effective July 1, 2027, was frozen.

Dan Gallagher, director of aviation business and finance for Massport, noted that parking, Logan Express, and Ride App demand regularly exceeds the airport’s capacity. At peak times, airport tunnels, roadways, and curbs are also heavily congested.

Gallagher said the problems will only worsen as the airport anticipates reaching 53 million passengers within the next 10 to 15 years, many of whom will use rideshare apps. Already, roughly 30% of airport passengers use rideshare apps.

He said the fee increase would fund $1.5 billion in capital improvements at Massport, which would better accommodate rideshare apps and improve customer experience.

Improvements include increasing HOV capacity, building remote terminals (in addition to the designated location in the central parking garage) to speed up passenger access to their gates, improving airport roadways and curbs to reduce congestion, and expanding parking capacity.

“Logan’s ground transportation challenges are real and evolving and are impacting our operations and customer service,” Gallagher at the meeting. “Left unchecked, these ground transportation challenges will only get worse as we grow.”

Uber and Lyft are also adding new ride options to get more passengers in each vehicle:

Uber and Lyft will restart shared rides at the airport.
Develop a scheduled urban HOV service.
Collaborate with Massport to create a last-mile program to encourage using Logan Express.
Pilot new services and technologies to improve customer experience and reduce congestion.
The rideshare apps will also increase the time frame from when a driver drops off a passenger and is eligible to accept a pickup request. The aim is to reduce the chances that a driver leaves Logan without a passenger, reducing congestion.

“I’m pretty sure that nobody on this board wants to raise fees; nobody likes that, nobody enjoys that,” John Nucci, a Massport board member, said at the meeting. “But to do nothing right now, it could be a disaster waiting to happen, right?”

Board member Warren Fields agreed.

“We would be remiss if we were not planning for the future on other ways to make going in and out of Logan easier, faster, and better for our constituents,” he said.

Despite some initial reservations about the increasing fee, board member Lewis Evangelidis noted that funding the infrastructure is crucial to improving the experience of traveling to Logan.

“I appreciate this compromise we’ve come up with,” he said.

In a press release before the vote, Brendan Joyce, Lyft’s public policy manager, noted that the company still has concerns about increasing riders’ fees but said it “is a step in the right direction.”

Josh Gold, Uber’s senior director of public policy and communications, said the company was also “pleased” with the compromise.

“We will continue to work with Massport to get travelers as close to the curb as possible and will always advocate for the best service for riders and the best platform for drivers,” he said in a statement.