What to know before you take Uber at the airport

City officials in Newark, New Jersey, issued a plan this week to ticket and tow cars operating for Uber or Lyft at Newark Airport and Newark Penn Station. Officials said the ride-sharing services violate a city ordinance that requires all drivers to obtain special licenses.

Over the past few weeks, Newark's officials have been debating the issue, and it was unclear on which side final regulation would emerge.

The main issue with the ride-sharing platforms, according to Newark council members, is the lack of registration for drivers. Registration would ensure that drivers passed background checks while also contributing revenue for the city.

“We are trying to be fair to you," South Ward Councilman John Sharpe James told local cab drivers. "The major issue right now is that the other ride-sharing companies are not going away. But they do not have a right to operate out of the airport."

Ride-sharing is a heated industry right now.

Last year in Paris, cab drivers held a violent protest at Charles de Gaulle airport that was live-tweeted by Courtney Love. Drivers smashed in windows and flipped over cars in protest of UberPOP.

And although nothing so extreme has happened in the U.S., cab drivers and local governments are still putting up a fight.

"They do not have a right to operate out of the airport."

However last week, Uber told its Newark drivers to continue servicing the airport and that they would be reimbursed for any fees incurred while doing so.

"Two thousand of Newark's residents depend on income from the Uber app to make ends meet,” Uber Spokesperson Craig Ewer told Mashable. “The City of Newark has flip flopped and decided to once again target Uber. We hope that Newark will follow the lead of the Port Authority and support the riders and drivers who use the Uber platform at Newark airport."

The conflict with Uber at airports has stretched across the country. In Chicago and Washington D.C., Uber and Lyft were banned from servicing the airports. But in order to get around the ban, passengers seeking pickup would exit the airport and order a car just outside airport limits. Today, they pay an extra $4 fee for airport service.

Passengers in Los Angeles got Uber back at the airport in January, for an additional $4 fee. But deliberations and negotiations were complicated and went on for almost a year. Lyft was allowed back at the airport in December.

Boston taxi drivers tried to get Uber kicked out of the city last year. Although they did not succeed, Uber now must pay an $8.75 fee for rides to and from Boston's Logan Airport. The airport fee for regular taxis is $2.75.

Ride-sharing passengers to and from the airports in San Francisco pay a flat fee, which was also the case in New York, up until October. Currently riders to LaGuardia and JFK are charged per distance and time.

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