The agency that runs Ronald Reagan Washington National and Washington Dulles International airports wants to require permits for hotel shuttles picking up and dropping off customers at the airports.
The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority originally proposed charging hotels $2.50 for each trip hotel shuttles make to the airports, an idea that faced major opposition from local hotels.
Under a proposal presented at an airports authority meeting Wednesday, vehicles holding fewer than 17 passengers would be charged $500 per year each, and vehicles carrying more passengers would be charged $750 per year.
Each shuttle would be allowed 300 trips per month and then charged $1 for each additional trip. Permit costs would be cut in half for vehicles running on alternative fuels.
“I think [the proposal] may reasonable for hotels further away and smaller, but if we are doing trips every 15 minutes, 18 hours a day, we are definitely going to paying the premium fees,” said Bradley Colton, general manager of the Crystal Gateway Marriott hotel in Arlington.
Shuttles also would be restricted to a 10-minute curbside “dwell time” in an attempt to increase efficiency and reduce the number of shuttles sitting along the curb.
The Alexandria Chamber of Commerce and the city’s manager had weighed in against the agency’s original fee proposal, and about 800 people signed an online petition.
Airports authority staff met with local chamber of commerce representatives and hoteliers from around the Washington area last month to discuss the revised proposal. Paul Malandrino and Chris Browne, the vice presidents of Reagan National and Dulles, respectively, who presented the proposal at Wednesday’s meeting, said there was “strong support” for the permit system at the meeting.
The airports authority had suggested charging hotels shuttle fees as a way to generate cash after the number of passengers using the airports fell last year. Airport officials said the fees would cut down on congestion and pollution, encouraging hotels to be more efficient with the service.
Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport charges each shuttle vehicle a $100 annual permit fee, said Maryland Aviation Administration spokeswoman Cheryl Stewart.
The Metropolitan Washington Airport Authority is scheduled to vote on the proposal July 1. If passed, the proposal would take effect Jan. 1.
