2nd suit filed over taxi concessions at Sea-Tac airport

The struggle for taxi concessions at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport has spawned a second lawsuit alleging that the process of awarding a five-year deal to Yellow Cab was unfair.

This case involves a losing, joint proposal from Farwest Taxi and Yellow and Orange cab. The suit by Farwest, filed Friday, alleges that Yellow's consultant, Chris Van Dyk, gleaned information from other firms to help Yellow write its own separate, winning proposal, as the Port of Seattle ignored the alleged collusion.

Van Dyk said Tuesday, "They've got it exactly backwards." He said it was Yellow that reached out to the other firms to suggest forming an alternate, joint team.

Earlier the Seattle-Tacoma International Taxi Association, which has picked up passengers at the airport for 20 years, sued the Port of Seattle after losing out on the new contract, which begins Sept. 1. Yellow offered $18.4 million in fees compared to $14 million from STITA, which made nearly 700,000 pickups at the airport cabstand last year.

Mike Lindblom: 206-515-5631 or mlindblom@seattletimes.com