DALLAS — Getting home from Dallas Love Field is about to get faster.
Just over a year after changes forced passengers to trek to Garage B's ground floor to catch Ubers, Lyfts and Taxis, the airport says it's moving rideshare pickup back closer to the terminal again.
By January 2025 ("or earlier") the airport plans to move the pickup location near the current valet pavilion on the terminal's southeast side, according to a memo sent to City Councilmembers Friday night.
Love Field called its efforts to smooth rideshare customers' complaints about the current location "valiant" -- but out-of-breath passengers used other -- occasionally four-letter -- words to describe it.
In feedback submitted to the airport and obtained by WFAA through a public records request, one person called it "a mess," another described it as "a walk halfway to Houston," and a third said, "in a word: miserable."
In Friday's memo, Assistant City Manager Deve Rastogi characterized the feedback as "extreme dissatisfaction."
The airport said it will have to create additional staging lanes, change signage and improve the waiting area before customers can begin digitally hailing rides from the new location.
"Although this site has the potential to create bottlenecks in traffic flow upon exiting the valet pavilion during peak periods, mitigation tactics are in progress to minimize disruptions," Rastogi wrote.
While the new rideshare location is likely to cheer frustrated customers, the airport also broke bad news Friday night: parking at Love Field is going to cost more.
Prices are increasing from $16 to $24 in Garage A. In the uncovered sections of Garages B and C, parkers will pay $18 and $20 (up from $10 and $13, respectively). Covered spots in the lots will increase to $21 (up from $13 in Garage B and $16 in Garage C).
Valet parking will increase to $35 and premium parking in Garage C to $30, the memo said.
The increased parking fees take effect on October 18.
"DAL's parking rates remain the least expensive among Texas commercial airports," Rastogi said.
His memo said this is the second time the airport has increased daily parking rates since the COVID-19 pandemic.
"DAL's garages continue to reach capacity," Rastogi said. "Being landlocked and no current available space to build, another parking garage is not possible."
Dallas currently has approximately 12,000 parking spaces for nearly 18 million annual passengers, the memo said.