By Harlan Levy
Journal Inquirer
WINDSOR LOCKS — Passengers arriving at Bradley International Airport will have less of a wait for taxicabs soon.
The taxis’ holding lot — now almost a mile away on Route 75 across from McDonald’s — is being relocated to another lot less than a quarter-mile from the main terminal.
The move is expected to take place around the end of of this month or in early June, airport Administrator Eric Waldron told Bradley’s board of directors at Thursday’s monthly meeting.
The 60-space commercial vehicle lot reserved for shuttle buses and limousines — at the corner of Cargo Road and Schoephoester Road, just past the entrance road to the garage — has been underutilized, Waldron said. That’s in spite of the fact that those vehicles are not allowed to pull up to the terminal and wait, he added.
The lot is being reconfigured to contain 60 spots for taxis and 10 for shuttle buses and limousines.
“Taxis are going to have half of that lot, and commercial vehicles are going to have the other half,” Bradley spokesman John Wallace said. “It will be five minutes closer, and it’ll improve customer service.”
But one cab company’s owner said he isn’t sure whether the move is a good idea.
On the one hand, cabs can get to the airport much more quickly from the new location, said Muhammad Sadiq, owner of Manchester Cab. On the other hand, he said, coffee shops and fast-food restaurants are much more easily accessible and closer to the Route 75 lot while cab drivers are waiting, in case they want to get some food or find a bathroom.
Nirmal Singh, manager of Windsor Locks-based Executive Cab Co., agreed. “The Route 75 lot is close to McDonald’s and coffee shops, and we can walk there, while the other lot is too far away,” Singh said. But if the new lot is where taxis must wait, he added, “What can we do?”
