Taxis Are Welcome Back to LAX (for Now)
Kaelin Dodge March 10, 2020
The introduction of the LAX-it lot resulted in a cabbie uprising.
After introducing a new program–LAX-it–that moved rideshare and cab airport pickups to a separate lot accessible by bus, LAX will now, temporarily allow curbside pickups for taxi drivers.
While LAX-it decreased traffic congestion to Los Angeles’ airport, it also decreased the number of people taking cab rides from the airport. In response, Taxi companies and employees took to L.A. City Hall to demand that they be allowed to once again offer curbside pick up at the airport.
Beginning today, taxis will be able to pick up customers for a 90-day trial period at two locations:
- Parking Structure 3 for guests arriving at Tom Bradley International Terminal and Terminals 3 (the lane closest to Tom Bradly on the ground floor of the structure).
- Terminal 7 / 8 for guests arriving at Terminals 7 and 8
If you prefer Uber or Lyft, which if you’re going a short distance might be cheaper, you’ll still have to bus it to the LAX-it lot. But if convenience is your thing, and a small price jump is not an issue, you will now once again have access to curbside pickup.
Have questions about the new taxi situation at LAX? Check out this forum thread on Uber and Lyft pickups.
Taxis and rideshare services should both be able to pick up from all terminals. As usual this flawed program was overkill and a huge inconvenience to wary travellers. Most of the time there are only a few buses on the road next to the terminals, it's a ghost town. Getting rid of private cars was enough.
Taxi from LAX to DTLA - a fairly average distance for LA - is $46.50 plus tip while Uber/Lyft can be as low as $25. I wouldn't therefore necessarily call taxis a "small price jump". For longer distances, the savings are likely to be even greater using rideshare services.