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Transportation fee hike may be coming to Sky Harbor

It's an issue that's now turned into a big debate for businesses like the one I'm at right now.

Customers park their cars at Blue Sky parking, and then a company provides the shuttle transportation to and from the airport for you.

It doesn't matter how many trips the shuttle takes to the airport because Blue Sky pays the airport a flat fee every year per shuttle.

Now, the airport wants to change that.

Sky Harbor says right now, taxis are paying significantly more in transportation fees because they are charged differently than offsite parking. The company Super Shuttle and taxis are charged not per year, but instead per trip.

So what's being talked about at a meeting today is the airport wants to implement at fee hike that would begin in 2017, and end in 2019. The fee hike would all be based on how many seats you have in your car when you're picking up your customers from Sky Harbor.

Taxis and ride-sharing companies that have one-to-eight seats currently pay $1 per trip, shuttle vans currently pay $3 per trip and right now, that doesn't include off site parking shuttles that pay a flat fee.

By 2019, Sky Harbor wants those taxis and Ubers to pay $3 more. All shuttle vans, including those here at Blue Sky, would pay $6 per trip and Sky Harbor says this would even out the playing field, and bring in more money to help maintain their roads and infrastructure.

Taxis and Super Shuttle will most likely be fine with this. We talked to Super Shuttle and they said they wouldn't add any new fees for customers.

However, Blue Sky says this fee would make them charge more, and eventually put them out of business because they'd have to pay about $400,000 per year.

If this proposal is passed by the Phoenix Aviation advisory board in a meeting today at 3:00 p.m., it will go to the city council. If it's passed there, would be implemented next year.