Massport, Lyft, and Uber are rolling out a new airport shuttle setup at Logan, and the pitch is simple enough: fewer solo rides clogging the terminal roads, more people packed into shared vans on fixed routes.
The service began April 16. Riders book a seat through the Lyft or Uber app, then get picked up and dropped off at designated stops instead of hailing a private car straight to the curb.
That is the whole model. Less door-to-door convenience, more predictable routing, lower cost. In theory, anyway.
Massport CEO Rich Davey said the new shuttles “give our passengers more flexibility through affordable and reliable transportation options” and help “increase HOV travel, ease congestion, and improve efficiency across the airport.”
That is the airport’s main problem here: curb space and traffic. Logan does not have endless room for every traveler to summon an individual rideshare and expect a clean getaway. So Massport is trying to herd more people into shared vehicles and reward them for cooperating.
One of those rewards is a “Ticket to Skip,” which lets shuttle riders move to the front of the TSA security line. That is not a small perk if you are trying to catch a flight and would prefer not to spend the morning zig-zagging through Terminal B.
Lyft’s route is limited but straightforward. Its shuttle runs from Porter Square to the Cambria Hotel in Somerville to Lechmere to Logan. Service runs 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., seven days a week, every 60 minutes.
Uber is offering two routes. One is a Central Boston line with stops in Allston, Boston University/Kenmore Square, North Station, and Logan. The other is a Cambridge line with stops at Porter Square, Harvard Square, MIT/Kendall Square, and Logan. Both run 2 p.m. to midnight, seven days a week, every 30 minutes.
If you are in Everett, the obvious question is: where exactly is Everett in this picture?
It isn’t.
Not directly, anyway. The closest practical connection for Everett travelers looks like North Station, Lechmere, or Porter Square, depending on where you are coming from and how much patience you have for transfers. So while this is being sold as a regional transportation improvement, Everett riders are still doing some homework before they ever reach the shuttle stop.
That does not make the service useless. It just makes it a Boston-and-Cambridge-first system with Everett nearby, as usual.
Lyft’s Yuko Yamazaki called the service “a reliable, affordable way to get to Logan,” while Uber’s Andy Jeninga said the company was bringing in “a scheduled, lower-cost transportation option” ahead of a busy travel season.
Fair enough. Shared airport shuttles are not a revolution. They are a practical fix for a practical problem: too many cars, too little curb, too many people trying to make a flight at the same time.
If the vans actually show up on schedule and the price undercuts a normal rideshare by enough to matter, people will use them. If not, they will go back to paying too much for an Uber and complaining about traffic the whole way to Logan.