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The DNAinfo archives brought to you by WNYC.
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UberPOOL Offering $10 Rides From LGA After Snow, as Taxi Union Cries Foul

By Ben Fractenberg | March 15, 2017 3:57pm
 UberPool is offering $10 rides from LaGuardia Airport to help with traffic congestion following Tuesday's storm.
UberPool is offering $10 rides from LaGuardia Airport to help with traffic congestion following Tuesday's storm.
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QUEENS — The Port Authority has given ride-sharing giant Uber the run of LaGuardia Airport in the wake of Tuesday's snowstorm — as officials announced that uberPOOL will be allowed to offer $10 rides from the under-construction hub to anywhere in NYC.

The special — which ends Friday — is supposed to help ease congestion and reduce the number of vehicles traveling to the airport in the wake of a late-winter storm that canceled more than 800 flights at LGA.

Travel conditions at the under-construction airport were so bad after the last snowstorm that people got out of their cars and walked along the highway to reach the airport.

Many flights on Wednesday were already fully booked and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey advised passengers to check with their airlines and leave plenty of time to arrive at the airport.

The PA advised travelers without confirmed reservations for a flight that day not to come to the airport.

Airport authorities also encouraged people heading to the airport to use mass transit, including the free Q70 bus from Jackson Heights.

The deal is not being offered at John F. Kennedy Airport because it has an AirTrain and is not undergoing similar work, officials said.

But the leader of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance accused Uber of trying to create "chaos" at the airport to make it harder for yellow cab drivers to pick up passengers. 

"If Uber is trying to get more drivers at the airport the only effect it will have is to increase congestion," NYTWA Executive Director Bhairavi Desai told DNAinfo.  "It doesn’t really reduce traffic lines."

Desai added that the Port Authority also put out a call for more yellow cabs at the airport through Friday. 

"LaGuardia is just a mess," Desai said. "Especially from today until Friday we know it will be a madhouse because of all the delayed flights that are now landing."

The Port Authority has been looking at a $4 access fee for pickups and drop-offs for both yellow cabs and ride-sharing services at city airports. 

Governor Andrew Cuomo recently unveiled a plan for an AirTrain to the airport from Willets Point to help reduce traffic.

The city was largely spared the worst of the expected blizzard, and ended up getting up to 10 inches in some parts of the five boroughs.