January 2017, the only major US airports not allowing ride sharing pickup were Anchorage, Austin, Buffalo, Fort Myers (FL), Honolulu, and Kahului (Maui).
Fast forward to July 2018, we are at the airport, straight off a 5 hour flight from San Jose to Anchorage, via Seattle on a cloudy but dry Sunday afternoon. Look for ridesharing pickup point. We are directed to the departures on the top level. Sign at the outside curb says Uber/Lyft pickup and drop off only.
Whip out the cell phone, bring up the Uber app, check Uber X, and allow the app to find the exact GPS coordinates. Brief wait for a ride, with the driver name, picture, vehicle make, model and vehicle license plate on the cell phone display.
Clean, 2017 Mazda6 comes sliding up to the curb. Car is spotless and looks like it was just washed, clean on the inside, with no litter, and no food stains on the seats, free of cigarette and body odor smell. Young white male driver in his 20s -who did you expect to be driving a Mazda6 2.5 turbo?
Driver pops open the hatch, and I toss in our two carryons and two daypacks. Wife gets in the back, while I ride shotgun. Lot of Uber drivers will discourage front seat passengers by putting items on the front seat. Not this guy.
A millennial who drives a stick shift, just like my 2017 Honda Fit!
Only noticeable difference in this ride is the accentuated tailpipe noise when accelerating from a stop. Driver says that one of his passengers complained about the noise. And I thought my Honda Fit was noisy, but it pales next to this car!
6.6 miles later, with minimal traffic delays, we arrive at the Hilton downtown Anchorage. $18.26 billed to credit card, and in front of driver, I add a $5 tip also via credit card, and punch in a five star driver rating, so that he can give me a five star rating as a passenger.
As he drives away, I take a glance at the tailpipe with the custom enlarged muffler sticking out. Would hate to have to pay his automobile insurance premiums!
Just that morning took Uber X from Sunnyvale to San Jose airport, 10.0 miles, costing $21.20, 730am Sunday. So Uber in Anchorage is about 50% more expensive than Uber in San Jose.
Uber is expensive in Anchorage, as expensive as Honolulu. Not a lot of difference in fare from the $20.59 cost of a taxi, before tip.
Probably a shortage of drivers at this early a stage for ride sharing in Anchorage. And they save money by not screening out the 27 million convicted felons as potential drivers! read more