Deciding to tinker with Los Angles International Airport’s [LAX] traffic problems, the LAX Authority implemented a ride-share area near the northeast-most terminal [Southwest Airlines], banning taxi cabs and ride-share companies, like Uber and Lyft, from curbside pick-up. Falling on its face, the experiment has triggered even more gridlock going in-and-out-of the airport, worsening the traffic congestion in the airport. LAX authorities haven’t yet conceded failure, stubbornly continuing the exclusive drop-off area, where they’ve invited food trucks, an LA craze, to help reduce passengers’ frustrations. Instead of letting traffic flow with taxis and ride-share companies run its course, LAX officials introduced their brainstorm Nov. 1. For the past five days, passengers have deal with far worse delays, sometimes sitting hours for their taxis or ride-share companies.
Apologizing Nov. 1, LAX has no way now to regulate what happens while they watch taxis, ride-share companies and passengers all suffer far more when they were able to pick up passengers in designated arrival locations on LAX’s arrival deck. “It was carmageddon,” said Nicole Moore, a Los Angeles Lyft driver who heard from other drivers that waits getting to the designated ride-share area took nearly an hour. “We’re not paid for those minutes . . . this is not good for anyone right now.” Instead of spreading congestion over the entire two-level airport, traffic worsened heading into the airport to get to the designated ride-share area. With taxis getting priority to get to the ride-share area, Uber and Lyft drivers complained that it’s hurting their business, something the tax industry has wanted since ride-share companies became the preferred transportation option over the last five years.
Responding to mounting complaints, threatening to make LAX a destination to avoid, LAX officials promised to do better re-routing taxis and ride-share companies into the airport. But changing the stripping, signage and routes into the airport hasn’t changed the long delays getting into the costly new ride-share staging area. LAX officials announced their LAXit plan Oct. 19, saying it would go into effect Oct. 31. Green colored shuttles were supposed to pick passengers up every 10-minutes, transporting them to the LAXit area near Southwest Airlines. “We have asked that Uber share with us any detailed data that differs from out modeling results and substantiates any concern in their letter, bit they have not provided this data to us to date,” said LAX officials jumping head-first into the current disaster. LAX “models” have turned a bad situation into an undeniable disaster.
LAX is not just accountable to the mayor’s office and Los Angeles City Counsel but to federal transportation authorities, now making one of the great U.S. airports an operating failure. It’s one thing to consider various plans to deal with traffic congestion, it’s another to let LAX planners impact local, state, national and international travelers. “Imagine what it’s going to be like on Friday, Nov. 1? Imagine what it’s going to be like on the holidays,” said Moore. “There was no real input of the people who do this work . Drivers count on the airports. This is our bread and butter,” disputing LAX authorities saying they were given proper notice. Justifying the disaster, LAX authorities blamed ride-share companies for not finding a solution, forcing authorities to take matters into their own hands. If there were any real discussion, LAX authorities would have left things alone.
When LAX officials talk about their “modeling,” they knew they were experimenting with 87.5 million travelers a year from all over the globe. With the latest snafu, LAX has become a traveler’s worst nightmare, battling the latest ill-advised scheme to deal with traffic congestion. Instead of waiting for the planned people-mover, designed to more travelers comfortably between terminals, LAX officials jumped the gun, punishing ride-share companies for not immediately responding to their demands before acting recklessly. LA Chamber of Commerce should have input into how the latest LAX traffic scheme hurts the Los Angeles business climate. LAXit needs an urgent response from LAX officials before it damages the Los Angeles brand: One of world’s great airports and most dynamic large cities. If travelers are punished for flying to LAX, it harms the Airport Authority and the City.
Giving taxi companies “first come, first served” policy an unfair advantage, Uber and Lyft have been harmed by LAXit. But more than ride-share companies, weary travelers are harmed by the new “LAXit” scheme, causing unnecessary delays to travelers and ride-share companies. “We’ve been working closely with LAX airport leadership, and we have an experienced team pm the ground making real-time adjustments to improve our operation for both riders and drivers,” said an unnamed Lyft spokesman. If LAXit causes more bottlenecks for ride-share companies and ordinary drivers, they’ve done a disservice to the airport and city. No traveler or resident of Los Angeles should be inconvenienced more than necessary, certainly not for a failed plan that needs to be urgently rescinded. Making a mistake is not the biggest problem: It’s owning it and doing something about it.
