Starting Tuesday, Lyft and Uber allowed to pick up passengers at Pearson airport

Uber and Lyft ride-hailing apps. are allowed to pick passengers from Toronto Pearson Airport starting from this Tuesday.

As part of an 18-month pilot project announced Tuesday by the Greater Toronto Airports Authority (GTAA), passengers can now use Lyft and Uber to reach their destinations from the airport.

In the past, travellers could take an Uber or Lyft to the airport, but regulations prevented ride-hailing services from picking up passengers at Pearson unless it was a premium service like UberBlack.

In a statement posted to Twitter, Uber Canada general manager Rob Khazzam said the pilot project was “several years in the making,” and would provide “low-cost transportation to millions of travellers every year.”

The service will give another option for 47 million annual airport passengers and 49,000 airport workers.

Interest from other ride-hailing companies to operate from Pearson would be considered on a case by case basis, airport spokeswoman Maria Ganogiannis said.

More than 200 North American airports, including Ottawa, Montreal, Edmonton and Calgary offer full ride-hailing services.

The Toronto airport authority says it studied similar operations at other airports and consulted locally to understand benefits and impacts to operators.

It will continue to monitor the impacts of this service on existing transportation providers and review their feedback as part of the pilot project,