Updated August 6 at 3:00p.m. with the Airport Commissions’s vote:
The peer-to-peer car rental platform Turo gained unanimous approval to operate at Lambert International Airport from the city’s Airport Commission on Wednesday. The details of the agreement stipulate that car rentals facilitated by Turo can only take place at airport surface lots beyond walking distance from either terminal. This had been a sticking point for airport commissioners as well as aldermen in the past, who had gotten an earful from legacy car rental companies, whose airport customers must use a shuttle to reach. On the question of how the airport would ensure Turo rentals don’t happen in the garages or walkable surface lots, Lambert’s properties division manager Rob Salarano says the airport will depend on Turo to enforce that part of the agreement. “We do have the right to audit their records,” he adds.
Lambert executive director Rhonda Hamm-Niebruegge said the agreement’s one-year term will help the airport answer lingering questions about how the agreement will play out, such as how much revenue it will bring in and how many people are using the service. But overall, Hamm-Niebruegge reflected other commissioners’ sentiments about finally reaching an agreement: “We’re also very happy to see this. Obviously it’s something that I think customers want and expect in today’s world and now we are on par with other airports that are offering this opportunity.” Turo similarly cheered the agreement, which brings Lambert into the fold of more than 160 other airports that offer the rental service. A company spokesperson says, “This is crucial for our team because we want to be where our guests are, and giving St. Louis hosts access to the airport is a major step toward making every passenger experience wonderful and convenient.”
Original story from August 6:
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Last month’s showdown at the Board of Aldermen over peer-to-peer car rental platform Turo operating at St. Louis Lambert International Airport may yield a result aldermen were looking for without the need for legislation from City Hall. Aldermen had expressed consternation over Turo operating at the airport without a formal agreement with the airport.
Now a proposed Ground Transportation Use Agreement before today’s meeting of the city’s Airport Commission could clear all of that up and pave the way for Turo to operate with full authorization at Lambert.
The proposed agreement would allow rental transactions facilitated by Turo at three surface lots (B, C, and D), which are far enough away that most passengers would have to take shuttles to access them. Turo would not have to provide shuttles itself, but could use the airport’s Super Park branded ones or other airport-authorized shuttle providers.
The proposed agreement reiterates multiple times that Turo and car owners using the platform are not allowed to use either terminal’s parking garage or surface Lot A near Terminal 1 for rental transactions, and that it’s on Turo to make sure vehicle owners comply.
Notably, the prohibition of rental cars within walking distance from the airport mirrors a key part of Board Bill 25, which Ward 3 Alderman Shane Cohn and Aldermanic President Megan Green sponsored to regulate peer-to-peer car rentals at the airport (and, apparently, effectively forced Turo into an agreement with the airport after seven years of operating there without one). Legacy car rental companies, such as Enterprise Mobility, had also argued that Turo previously conducting operations within walking distance of the terminals was unfair to them.
The legislation was placed on the informal calendar before aldermen broke for summer recess until September. A spokesperson for Green told SLM her office believes the agreement is a good deal for the city.
Why It Matters: It’s in the airport’s interest to strike a deal with Turo for a few reasons. For one, Lambert executive director Rhonda Hamm-Niebruegge told an aldermanic committee last month that she wants to avoid legislation that applies different standards at St. Louis’s airport than others in the country. It’s something, she says, airlines pay attention to: “It’s very important [to them] to see consistency across the system in a lot of our processes and in a lot of the way we do our business.”
The agreement would also bring in more revenue for the airport, with the proposal calling for the greater of a $200/month permit fee or 10 percent of all gross receipts Turo collects from its transactions at the airport. That includes a long list of fees and charges that can get tacked onto a rental transaction, such as charges for mileage, fuel, young drivers, insurance and others.
What’s Next: The agreement goes before the Airport Commission today. If it’s approved, it would be in effect from September 1, 2025 to August 31, 2026.
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