The Spokane Airport Board has enacted a 50 cents per-trip fee for courtesy shuttles that hotels use to transport guests to and from Spokane International Airport, amid opposition from the Spokane Hotel-Motel Association and the Spokane Regional Convention and Visitors Bureau.


Association representatives argued at an Airport Board hearing last month that the fee is illegal and that inadequate taxicab service at the airport is forcing hoteliers to rely more heavily on courtesy shuttles.


In my view, they are not a for-hire vehicle that is subject to regulation at the airport, says Dennis McLaughlin, longtime attorney for the hotel-motel association. He says state statutes specifically mention courtesy shuttles as one of the exemptions to a law that gives airports the authority to regulate for-hire vehicles.


Airport spokesman Todd Woodard says Airport Board legal counsel Jerry Neal has researched the matter and believes the courtesy-shuttle fee is legal. Woodard contends also that the fee and taxi availability at the airport are two completely different issues. The fee, he says, is intended to help the airport cover the cost of operating its ground-transportation facilities, and the airport previously had been collecting fees from only some of the users of those facilities, which wasnt equitable.


The hotel-motel association wants to make the distinction between for-hire and not-for-hire shuttles, Woodard says, but adds, For us, its immaterial. Its an access fee for the space the shuttles use at the airport. Also, he asserts that the 50 cent per-trip fee, which became effective May 1, is a fraction of what courtesy shuttle operators pay at Boise Airport or Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.


He acknowledges, though, that the Airport Board still is wrestling with how to improve cab access at the airport, following the sudden exodus last fall of a Tri-Cities-based cab company that had been awarded an exclusive four-year taxi contract there just four months earlier.


One of the challenges you have at Spokane is you dont have a supply of taxis to serve the overall demand, he says. Its not a criticism, its a reality, and theres a whole host of reasons.


Woodard says, Cab service is just absolutely essential. Its the first impression a lot of people have of the region. We want to make sure that first impression is a positive one.


Harry Sladich, president and CEO of the CVB, says hes concerned both about the taxi situation at the airport and about the recent friction between the Airport Board and the hospitality industry here.


The problem is we dont have good taxi service at our airport. Im convinced that if we had cabs that were out there, that were clean, that were operating, the hoteliers wouldnt be going out there as much, he asserts. The fee isnt a huge sum, he says, but for the hoteliers its a big deal right now because theyre out there all the time trying to compensate for a problem the airport has a role in.


From a tourism-revenue perspective, Sladich says, Its a community problem, and weve got to get it solved. Were trying to get people here, and then (if) they cant get a cab, everything I say after that is just blah, blah, blah.


He wrote in a March 20 letter to the Airport Board, on behalf of the CVB, that imposing a fee on courtesy shuttles could impact the availability of those vans, making travel to Spokane less attractive. Of the CVBs ongoing interest in resolving the matter, he says, Were just trying to say, Dont let the customer fall through the cracks. Its strained relationships, and thats not good. We need to work together hand in hand.


Woodard says the Airport Board first began looking at imposing a fee on courtesy shuttles about 11 years ago, but postponed taking action on the matter because the hotel-motel association wanted time to seek clarification from the state on the legality of the fee.


We have been waiting for them to secure that clarification, and the Airport Board finally decided to move ahead with the fee after Neal assured board members it was legal. The measure passed on a 5-0 vote.


McLaughlin says he hasnt had an opportunity since the board approved the fee to get together with the hotel-motel association to discuss a course of action.


This trip charge probably will yield between $3,000 and $4,000 a year, so its not a lot of money theyre after, he says. He adds, though, that the fee comes when hotels and motels already face rising costs in other areas.


Spokane is one of relatively few cities nationwide that until now hasnt charged a per-trip fee for courtesy shuttles, which was a competitive advantage in attracting visitors, McLaughlin says.


Along with Spokane International Airport, the Airport Board operates the Airport Business Park and Felts Field, a general aviation airport in East Spokane. The three facilities are owned jointly by the city of Spokane and Spokane County.


Taxi contract history


The Airport Board began awarding an exclusive contract for taxi service at Spokane International in 1989 to halt problems that had ranged from fistfights between cab drivers vying for passengers to poor taxi service during off-peak flight arrival times. The airport viewed the contract as a way to establish better control and provide incentives for improved taxi service.


The four-year contracts it offers require cab companies to have drivers who are presentable and the taxis they drive to be no more than three years old and to have no visible interior or exterior damage. Also, the cab company must have a fleet of 12 or more cabs dedicated to the airport route.


Four companies have held the contract since the airport began awarding it. TC Transportation Services, of Pasco, was awarded the contract last June, but wasnt able to garner the share of the overall taxi market here that it had hoped for and halted the taxi service on Halloween Day.


The airport then reached an interim agreement with Spokane Dispatch Inc., a taxi dispatch service, and the Spokane Owners and Drivers Association (SODA) to provide airport service under essentially the same contract terms until a more permanent solution can be found. SODA represents cab-vehicle owners here, who work as independent contractors.


Woodard says the thought of going back to a competitive, nonstructured taxi-service arrangement at the airport isnt appealing because it could lead to a return of the free-for-all climate that led the airport to begin using exclusive contracts. He adds, though, that if the current system isnt working the way it should, maybe we should do it another way.


Larry Loncon, who owns Spokane Dispatch with his wife, Bev, says he thinks the airport likely will need to revise how it contracts for taxi service because, At this point I think youre not going to be able to find a single provider to step up.


The airports current interim arrangement with his company and SODA is working relatively well, he says, but adds, We know service has been an issue and will continue to be an issue. Its the availability of the cabs and getting them out there. Unfortunately, in the position I sit now, I have very little control over that.


That, he says, is because the vehicle owners are independent contractors, over whom he has no direct authority.


That situation has evolved, he says, out of a longstanding dispute between the Washington state Department of Labor and Industries and cab companies over whether the drivers are independent contractors or function more as employees.


As the result of an expensive legal battle between his company and L&I, he decided four years ago to sell all of his taxis and now operates as a dispatch service.


As for the hotel-motel associations assertion that unreliable taxi service at the airport has forced it to fill some of that gap by increasing courtesy shuttle trips, Loncon says, Im sure theres some basis for that claim, but like in any industry you have peaks and valleys. On the other hand, the hotels increasingly have added airport shuttle service for competitive reasons, he asserts, so they all kind of fell into that niche, and that has had a direct impact on us and taxi-service revenues.


Contact Kim Crompton at (509) 344-1263 or via e-mail at kimc@spokanejournal.com.