New Ride-Hailing Area at LAX, Called 'LAX-it,' Has Rough Opening Day
Laura J. Nelson and Erin B. Logan report on the first day of LAX-it, the new scheme that moves ride-hailing pick ups and drop offs to a location outside the central terminal at the Los Angeles International Airport (LAX).
Early reviews show the new arrangement was unpleasant for ride-hailing visitors to the airport:
Even on a low-traffic day, the new pickup system had some growing pains. At points in the early afternoon, the wait time for Uber and Lyft rides swelled, with more than 100 people waiting in each line for their drivers in the pickup lot.
Moreover:
Travelers spent an average of 10 minutes waiting for the shuttle, boarding and riding it to the pickup lot on Tuesday, airport officials said. It took an additional eight minutes for travelers to get in a taxi and pull away from the curb; for Uber and Lyft, that time was 18 minutes.
Airport planners promise that easy fixes will improve the "LAX-it" experience, but meanwhile there were plenty of anecdotes from upset Uber and Lyft users on the first day of the new operations. Nelson also provided an explainer of the new LAX-it operations on the morning of the big day.
Meanwhile on Twitter, Nelson also provided an anecdote on the other side of the equation, where buses and shuttles appeared to be running smoothly and unencumbered by the crush of motorized humanity that has come to define the LAX terminal area experience.
Topics
- 4 Predictions for Urban Planning Post-Coronavirus
- Cities Are Suddenly a Little Less Car-Centric
- NACTO Releases Pandemic Streets Design Guide
- The Argument Against Accessory Dwelling Units
- Louisiana Coast Will Disappear, Study Says. The Only Question Is How Soon.
- California's Population Might Be Peaking
- Popularity of Opportunity Zone Program Grows During the Pandemic
- The Growing Footprint of Al Fresco Streets
- Proposed Mass Timber High-Rise In Seattle Adds Six Stories
- Electric Bike Sales Explode as Cities Rethink Streetscapes
- Did the CDC Toll the Death Knell for Public Transit?
- Blue-State Plague No More
- Making Space for the 'Invisible Cyclists' in Post-Pandemic Transportation Planning
- U.S. Supreme Court Rules on State-Imposed Social Distancing Restrictions
- The '30 by 30' Framework Sets an Ambitious Goal for Nature Conservation
- Post-Pandemic Era of Shopping Malls Creates Opportunities for Downtowns
- Commandeered Buses, System Shutdowns—Transit on the Frontlines of Protests
- Violence Against Black Americans a Moment of Reckoning for the Planning Profession
- The Urban Project: Urbanization, Urbanisms, and the Virus—A Historical Take
- Toronto's Expanded its Bike Infrastructure Network to Run Parallel to Transit Lines
