After filing a lawsuit against the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport board in an effort to prevent ride-sharing services like Uber and Lyft from moving in to serve travelers at the airport, a state district judge has ruled against the Association of Taxicab Operators USA, the Dallas Morning News reported.
The Dallas-based organization's decision to take the issue to court came just days after the airport implemented a new policy Aug. 1 allowing the emerging ground transportation companies to operate there.
The board voted in May to do away with its former policy of issuing limited permits, and now drivers only need to possess a license sticker from either the Dallas or Fort Worth City Councils in order to operate at DFW.
The Association of Taxicab Operators USA claimed the new policy was unfair to the hundreds of cab drivers who "derive their business from patiently working their way through the queue to obtain fare [from] paying passengers," stated the lawsuit via the Morning News.
"It's simple economics," the association's lawyer D. Shawn Stevens argued, pointing out that while there will be significantly more competition at the airport, "there aren't going to be two or three times as many people needing cabs."
Stevens requested a temporary reversal of the policy from state district Judge Bonnie Goldstein during a hearing Tuesday morning, but Goldstein ruled in favor of the airport board.
"There is nothing unfair - or to use the old phrase, illegal, immoral or fattening - about increased competition," said the airport board's attorney Jerry Beane via the Morning News. "Their only claim is, 'We don't like the new rules. There's too much competition and we want to go back to the old rules,' that's not a cause of action."
Stevens told the Morning News he will continue to seek a permanent reversal of the policy.
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