At the top of the list of things people don’t like about LAX are the traffic in and out of the airport and the high cost of a ride.
Now, airport officials are proposing a plan they hope will ease one of those problems, while increasing the other.
On Tuesday morning, Los Angeles World Airports board members are expected to vote on whether to increase the access fees for private transportation companies that ferry travelers to and from Los Angeles International Airport, which includes ride app companies such as Uber and Lyft, along with taxi and limousine companies.
The thinking, according to airport officials, is to encourage riders to use the yet-to-open Automated People Mover, also known as Skylink, and to reduce vehicle traffic around the terminals.
Travelers at the airport Monday who heard about the vote were incredulous.
“We expect rides to be expensive like in every city but for it to go up even more is kind of crazy,” said Jordan Conway, who was catching a ride into the city after arriving from Nashville with his friend for their annual trip to Southern California.
Their ride from the airport was projected to cost about $80.
At LAX, ride app companies including Uber and Lyft pay $4 to access the airport to pick up and drop off customers. Under Tuesday’s proposal, the fee will rise to $12 to access the airport’s central terminal area, and $6 for picking up and dropping off at Skylink. The increases will also apply to black car, taxi and limousine drivers who currently don’t pay anything to drop off passengers curbside at the airport.
Uber has begun reaching out to its customer base to rally them in opposition.
In an email to them Monday, it said “LAX is pushing through a proposal that would more than double the fees you pay to get picked up or dropped off by rideshare … if approved, LAX rideshare fees would be the most expensive in the world.”
As word of the proposed fee increase aired on local TV news channels Monday morning, LAWA officials told The Times there was room to reconsider if and when new fees would be implemented — including until after the long-delayed Automated People Mover is actually open.
The train, which was originally slated to open in 2023, has faced significant delays caused by clashes between the airport and contractor, LAX Integrated Express Solutions, over timeline, compensation and production.
The people mover is scheduled to open in the early summer, said David Reich, deputy executive director for mobility strategy for Los Angeles World Airports. It’s anticipated to run 24/7 in four car sets, two minutes apart during peak hours, and accommodate 200 passengers. LAWA estimates the train will move 85 million passengers per year.
“By distributing traffic amongst multiple locations rather than funneling it all into the central terminal area we can reduce gridlock, improve safety, and give passengers better options on how to get to LAX,” Reich said. “It’s just not sustainable anymore for all the vehicles, 80,000 to 100,000 a day, to come into that very limited curb front.”
The access fee increase would be the first at LAX in 10 years, airport officials said, after years of having fees lower than at other travel hubs including Boston, Seattle and San Francisco International Airport, where ride app companies are charged $6 for access.
“We’ve made all these investments so it makes sense now to look at getting those fees on par with the market rate for access,” Reich said.
How the companies decide to navigate the additional cost, or who they decide to pass it on to, is up to the companies, he said.
It may affect how some move around the city.
On Monday morning, Brandon Bailey, who flew into LAX from Texas, told The Times that the potential increase will leave a hole in his travel budget.
“It’ll definitely affect my travels, I come in every month for work,” Bailey said. “I’m just going to pay it, but I’m paying more today than I ever have.”
His Uber ride from the airport to his destination in the area was set to cost $58.
Along with increasing the access fee, the board is also discussing getting ride app companies to limit pickups at the central terminal area — within the airport horseshoe — to 30%, with the remaining 70% out at the Skylink, and reversing those percentages for passenger drop-offs, Reich said.
The current proposal allows the board to increase the fees 30 days after a vote, but it may be put off until the people mover is working, Reich added.
On Monday afternoon, seven state Assembly members and two state senators issued a statement calling on the board to delay the vote, echoing criticism from Uber that the public had insufficient time to consider it or the reasoning behind the change.
“At a time when Californians face a persistent affordability crisis, we should carefully consider policies that increase transportation costs or make work opportunities connected to the airport more difficult to access,” the statement said.
But LAWA has been studying how to implement policies around Skylink since 2020, Reich said, so the proposal should not have been a surprise.
“In earnest, we started talking about plans, both publicly to our board and directly to Uber and Lyft and other companies, since at least 2023,” he said.
John E. DiScala, creator of travel tips and deals website Johnny Jet, said the proposal isn’t great timing as gas prices are going up.
DiScala said he doesn’t know if Uber or Lyft deciding to pass on the fee increase to their customers will change travelers’ plans.
But the overall price increases for gas and other necessities are adding up for consumers, so much so that he said his neighbor recently asked for a ride to LAX to avoid paying for a ride on an app.
What this could affect is hotel shuttles to the airport, a hack that DiScala said he takes advantage of when he travels alone. He predicts hotels might crack down on shuttle riders who are not staying at their facilities.
Instead, people might even tap the shoulder of a good friend who lives near the airport.
“Because there is a saying that you know someone loves you if they pick you up at LAX,” he said.
