JetBlue partners with Bandwagon to offer taxisharing at JFK's T5
Just in time for Thanksgiving travel, JetBlue is partnering with Brooklyn-based Bandwagon to offer taxisharing at T5 at JFK Airport.
The service, already offered at New York’s LaGuardia Airport, uses software and a mobile app to buddy-up taxi riders heading in the same direction. Travelers can also use the app to find a taxishare partner at Newark-Liberty International Airport.
Faster, cheaper getaways from New York's LaGuardia Airport
Matched passengers get a text that tells them to exit what is invariably a long taxi waiting line and go instead to a priority line where they meet up with their taxishare partner and grab the next available cab.
Bandwagon collects a $6 per party match fee and the riders then split the fare.
To help move things along, Bandwagon has live agents on duty at JFK T5 and LGA during holiday rush times and during peak travel periods, including Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday from 2 p.m. to 10 p.m.
JFK Terminal 4 will get Bandwagon agents during peak times beginning next Wednesday.
“At JetBlue we are always looking for ways to both improve the customer experience while reducing greenhouse gas emissions," said Sophia Mendelsohn, head of sustainability, JetBlue. "Facilitating customers’ ability to share yellow taxis with carbon neutral rides and save time in the taxi line is a great example of a win-win.”
Meanwhile, travelers are still waiting to hear when Uber and Lyft will get the nod to being official pick-ups at Chicago’s O’Hare and Midway airports.
A plan for ride-hailing services at Chicago’s airports was approved by the Chicago’s City Council in October. And although no specific start date has been announced, according to Mika Stambaugh of the city’s Business Affairs and Consumer Protection department, “rideshare companies will be able to operate at Chicago’s airports before the Thanksgiving Holiday.”
Uber is ready. On Wednesday the company posted this note on its website alerting customers to the $5 surcharge that will charged for trips that begin or end at O’Hare and Midway airports.
Harriet Baskas is a Seattle-based airports and aviation writer and USA TODAY Travel's "At the Airport" columnist. She occasionally contributes to Ben Mutzabaugh's Today in the Sky blog. Follow her at twitter.com/hbaskas.