LAX bans Uber and Lyft from picking up passengers at the terminal
It's about to get even harder to hail an Uber or Lyft at Los Angeles International Airport. Ride-hailing vehicles will be banned from making pickups outside LAX's terminals under new rules announced by officials on Thursday, the Los Angeles Times reports. Instead, passengers wishing to get picked up by Uber or Lyft will have to take a shuttle to a parking lot next to Terminal 1.
It's a new twist in the increasingly fraught relationship between airports and the app-based car service companies that have added to some of the confusion and congestion at most travel hubs. With more people flying than ever before and a growing share of those people expecting to use their smartphones to summon cars to pick them up, the traffic situation outside of airport terminals has reached a breaking point.
LAX is in the midst of a $14 billion revamp[*] of its aging roads and terminals. Construction has led to some road closures, while airlines are adding routes leading to an increase in passenger pickups and drop-offs.
"We understand that trying to get into the central terminal area is a challenge and has been for a long time, and we've been working to make that much better," Keith Wilschetz, deputy executive director of the Operations and Emergency Management Division at Los Angeles World Airports, told the LA Times. "This is a way we can do that."
[...] Other airports have adopted similar tactics in recent years. San Francisco International Airport, for example, recently moved almost all ride-hailing passenger pickups to the top floor of the main parking garage. Some passengers said the change has made pickups more efficient, even though it involves a longer walk from the gate. Similar changes are expected to take place at Boston's Logan International Airport.
Meanwhile, Uber and Lyft have tweaked their apps for drivers in the hopes of making drop-offs and pickups more seamless. Both companies have added a feature called rematch that allows drivers who have just dropped off a passenger to pick up a new customer without leaving the airport and waiting in an off-site area.
[*] See: LAX airport is getting a $14 billion makeover and new 'happy face' machines to rate satisfaction.
Related: Logan Airport Uber and Lyft changes set to take effect in October
(Score: 1, Offtopic) by Rosco P. Coltrane on Monday October 07 2019, @10:58AM (8 children)
Make flying classier and less affordable, instead of turning airplanes into cattle cars every penniless Tom, Dick and Harry can cram themselves into to go on stupid city trips and pointless vacations to tourist traps several times a year. You'll have helped the planet by preventing thousands of needless carbon-dioxide-spewing flights, by making people think twice before booking a ticket, and those who do pay more to fly will have better amenities, and will generate less road traffic around the airports.
So, make flying what it used to be like before the 80s, essentially.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 07 2019, @11:41AM (1 child)
You still have to get past the grope agents. They are not going away.
Buses might be better. They are less classy, and slower, but have bigger seats.
Driverless electric cars could be even better. Electric because you brought up carbon dioxide. They would take less time than a bus because you decide when to make stops, and you can sleep in it, allowing it to travel up to 24/7. If you dare.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Monday October 07 2019, @12:48PM
'
I reckon you mean "driveless trams". You know? Those vehicles connecting to an aerial wire to have power up to 24/7 (of course "up to", since 24/7 means "all the time" and you can't have more than that - large grin)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 1) by khallow on Monday October 07 2019, @12:29PM (5 children)
If you confine people at home, then there would be no need to fly and they can be kept out of the way until humane ways are found to reduce their population.
(Score: 5, Funny) by c0lo on Monday October 07 2019, @12:55PM (3 children)
Depends on the pressure you use to confine them. E.g. it would be a serious energy expenditure to reach some hundred of GPa of confinement pressure.
The good thing though: if the confinement recipient ruptures, you'll see them flying all over the place. Once.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 3, Informative) by Fnord666 on Monday October 07 2019, @01:11PM (1 child)
Fun fact. Coffee hurts when it spews out of your nose from laughing. Other than that, thanks for the chuckle.
(Score: 3, Informative) by c0lo on Monday October 07 2019, @01:36PM
Yeah, well, that's barely a bit over atmospheric pressure though. Imagine 10000 times of that.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 1) by khallow on Monday October 07 2019, @01:18PM
Throw in a TV and the people don't tend to be very energetic. Low confinement pressures are possible.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by DannyB on Monday October 07 2019, @02:46PM
Isn't that the very reason gaming was invented?
Once upon a time these people would commit crimes outdoors such as Skateboarding. And setting foot upon elderly people's lawns. Now they just stay inside glued to their games.
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 07 2019, @11:56AM (5 children)
A queue for the ride hailers, where one picks the first car there, rather than the specific driver matched by app. So an ordered pickup line, we could even call it a rank. Then rather the nomination of a provider we need a generic name for such services, and a common colour scheme would help the punters. Hmmm call them taxis and have them all painted uber blue and lyft yellow. Solved.
(Score: 2) by opinionated_science on Monday October 07 2019, @12:13PM (2 children)
at big events this is exactly what Uber does.
They bring their own cell towers/wifi points so people standing around a big line, don't overwhelm the system.
Then with the app open, it matches cars in a carrel so the people standing next to these "wifi" points, get ubers in a line.
I don't know the actual details, but I have seen it a few times at festivals - it would be chaos without some sorting tech...
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 07 2019, @01:48PM (1 child)
Missing the point that this would no longer be a "ride hailing" service (or more appropriately a chartered livery), and would in fact be a taxi service and thus should be licensed as such.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 07 2019, @03:00PM
they have always been an unregulated taxi service. The gps tracking feature is nice, why they could not just have added that to existing taxi services? Oh yeah, disruption and market share i forgot good business practice.
(Score: 4, Informative) by richtopia on Monday October 07 2019, @03:47PM (1 child)
This is actually what currently happens at PDX. There are three lines: taxi, Lyft, Uber. When you get in the region you open the app and get a code, which you then present to the driver once you've waited through the queue. This matches the driver to your destination.
Thursday night around 10PM all three lines were busy, probably 50+. Since my company picks up the tab, I opted for the shortest line, the local taxi. As I stood in line for 20 minutes, I watched someone move through the Lyft line faster than I got to my taxi. The local taxi also cost more than double.
The "hack" to get around this new queue is to select a different quality of pickup. If you share a Lyft the app follows the normal ride hailing mechanism, and when I looked the closest driver was 7 minutes away. I may try this next time I return through PDX; I can ask for the ride from inside security to shave down that wait time.
The new system is called "Fast Match": https://help.lyft.com/hc/en-us/articles/115013078748-Airport-information-for-passengers [lyft.com]
(Score: 2) by Osamabobama on Monday October 07 2019, @11:23PM
I experienced this recently with Lyft at SAN. It worked pretty smoothly; people were loading their luggage into cars about as fast as could be expected given a limited area that allowed about four simultaneous car-loading processes. To get a car any faster you would need a different pickup location, but then you'd also be waiting for your car to arrive.
Lyft had a few employees on-hand to organize the line. I believe that was because it was the first week of the Fast Match system.
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(Score: 3, Informative) by DannyB on Monday October 07 2019, @02:54PM (3 children)
It works like this.
You park in a "cell phone" lot which is separated from, but not too far from the terminal building.
When your party has landed, they turn on their cell phone before the fright crew gives them permission, and they text you that they have landed. They tell you which terminal building, and which outside door number they are standing at.
You proceed to that building and door. Your party is already at the curb, luggage in toe/tow, you quickly and efficiently pick up your party, taking minimum time at the crowded area around the building exit and adjacent curb.
Back in ancient times, people would have to make a voice call to you on their cell phone (which had a rotary dial), and you would not be parked in a "cell phone" lot, but wood be driving in endless circles around the terminal building along with two hundred other cars waiting for similarly scheduled inbound frights.
How is this "cell phone" lot idea so different than using an Uber to do the same thing?
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 2) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Monday October 07 2019, @09:56PM (2 children)
Or the other way we dealt with it in ancient times...
1) Get the terminal and gate information in advance.
2) Go to airport.
3) Park.
4) Walk to the gate (and during the 70s it became 'and pass through security') and wait for the plane.
5) Meet your party at the arrival gate, go pick up luggage, and walk to place you parked your car.
6) Profit! (well, the garage would profit a little bit, anyway...)
This sig for rent.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by DannyB on Tuesday October 08 2019, @01:34PM (1 child)
Item 4 is your problem. In the 1970's, people were able to walk a couple hundred yards. (And not be distracted by social media.)
Item 3 is a big problem which meant building a lot of short term parking. With the new cell phone lots, that short term parking can be pushed out a mile or two from the terminal.
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 2) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Tuesday October 08 2019, @02:26PM
Wanted to mod funny, had to mod Interesting, should have modded Informative...
This sig for rent.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 07 2019, @09:52PM
O'Hare has a stretch of curving one-way road on the way to the terminals and there are always 20 or so cars parallel parked off on the right shoulder awaiting a call. I expect it now, but the first time I drove past it, it was really distracting.