chrisl137

I think it's like the traditional matching of driver and rider and they get a separate curb area in the LAXit lot. So you probably have to wait for an XL to come from the TNC waiting lot. I was going to bring a bike back down with me this weekend and get an XL, but it looks like the way things are working out at this end the bike will stay in PDX at least one more trip - I'll probably try to do it when I'm flying back to the same airport I left so I can just drive it home myself.

DELee

And, with that introduction, it looks like you stayed in Los Angeles...

David

cheaptom

Day One of LAX's ban on taxi and Uber curbside pickup has been a disaster. It's all over the news, and local councilmen are already trying to step in and get LAX to repeal this ridiculous rule. You can google the reports and watch the actual videos.
It takes well over an hour just to get to the Main Ride Lot. From there, you still have to wait for your Uber or find a taxi. It was a disorganized mess, and yet LAX officials blamed Uber drivers for not knowing where to go. That is ridiculous, because the drivers were in the right spot. The LAX shuttle buses (allegedly coming and going every 5 minutes) were taking 60 minutes.

chrisl137

I think there's already a thread for this (it was at the top of the thread list).

From what I've seen and heard, it sounds like the TNC companies helped as much to make it a mess as LAWA did.

When I took an Uber to BUR on thursday of last week, the driver hadn't heard much, if anything about the changeover, and it sounds like Uber and Lyft didn't do a good job of informing their drivers so a lot of them were going into the TNC lot off Century (the bus entrance) instead of 96th (the car entrance/exit) and it made the buses slow. Uber also unexplicably turned off the PIN system at midnight, which makes no sense at all with the LAXit lot arrangement. An acquaintance who flew in wednesday reported that Uber was a much bigger mess than Lyft and hadn't figured out how to manage it (which doesn't make a lot of sense, because they use about the same system in PDX and it reduced wait times from 7-15 minutes down to basically zero)

On the bright side - people were reporting record trip times through the upper loop, which will mean a lot fewer missed flights at the holidays. Last year a week before christmas it would have been faster to walk from the Sepulveda exit on the 105 to T7 than to stay on the bus, but they don't allow peds in the tunnel. People taking the FlyAway bus were also reporting fast times from terminal to Union Station.

Give it a couple weeks for the TNC companies to figure out what they're doing and drivers to figure out the new traffic patterns. Leaving it as-is was not going to work - more people enter and leave LAX on the ground every day than any other airport in the world and it's not reasonable to expect that each one will get a curb pickup in the CTA. It was already taking 30 minutes to get a TNC at the terminals, and cabs didn't even bother going all the way to T6/7 - you could have lines of riders waiting for cabs that weren't coming. The only way LAX is going to work for the foreseeable future is to put pax into mass transit in the CTA and disperse them throughout the area to get to their individual rides from somewhere outside the CTA.

cheaptom

Good points about TNC, Some of this will work out on its own. I saw the thread you linked to, and others, but they were mostly started prior to the implementation, so I figured I'd start a fresh one as of November 1.
The mistake to me is lumping taxis in with the other ride services.
Taxis always had dedicated stations at LAX, and it was professional and organized. It was slow sometimes, especially when waiting at T4-T7, and you had to wait in a long line...but at least that line was well labeled, and there were LAX employees at the stations to get you on your way. I don't see the reason to make taxis now wait in the same congested area as the Uber kids.

Also, I was reading that towncar and private services are allowed to pick you up at the curb as always, so the Taxi unions must love that.

ianmanka

The ones you saw zip by are ones designated for other terminals. Each shuttle bus makes a maximum of one additional stop, so there's dedicated buses for each terminal group: T1/T2, T3/T4, TBIT, T5/T6, T7/T8. Granted, I doubt that the buses have signs indicating which terminals they serve, so it certainly doesn't make anyone feel better when they're off a flight and just want to get to their destination.

The FlyAway buses are great, and may reduce hassle of the LAX-it lot at peak hours: https://www.flylax.com/en/flyaway-bus

LAWA issued the following press releases, acknowledging both their successes and failures.

Press release #1 (Oct. 31) highlights:

• 31,783 vehicles removed from Central Terminal Area through two days
• Arriving passengers on Tuesday between 6-10 PM: wait times of 45+ minutes
• Arriving passengers on Wednesday from morning until late afternoon: less than 15 minutes.
• Arriving passengers on Wednesday between 8 PM-Midnight: wait times of 45+ minutes
• During peak hours of 7-10 PM, plan for extra time waiting for a ride
• Buses weren't working properly on the Tuesday (delays, full buses, long waits)
• Fixes made after it opened:
  • Improved/additional signage in Central Terminal Area
  • Lane striping changes in certain areas
  • Changes to traffic patterns
  • Deploying additional traffic officers
  • Additional communication about the first-come, first-served system
  • Ride app providers working more closely with drivers to train them on the PIN system.
• Fixes for now and the future:
  • Roadway shifts to reduce bottlenecks (pilot program)
  • Bolder signage for LAX-it shuttle stops
  • Adding and redeploying staff to help passengers
  • Additional informational signage within the terminals
  • Adding video messages to LAX-it shuttles
  • Adding more staff
  • Adding 15-second extensions to traffic lights on Century Blvd. and Avion Dr.

Press release #2 (Nov. 1) highlights:

• Average wait time on Wednesday for buses from terminal was 2 minutes
• Adding more bus shuttles (from 29 to 35 buses)
• Will dynamically re-route bus shuttles to account for passenger demand
• Removed 14,795 cars daily (15.3% reduction overall)
• Upper level vehicle speed improved by 34%
• Lower level vehicle speed improved by 6%
• Weekend will likely mean longer wait times due to larger number of travelers.

zip10001

Walked 15 min to the Hyatt Regency LAX yesterday around 3pm.
Took a UberX to West Hollywood, $31. I think there was surge price at LAX, over $70 for thr same drive.

chrisl137

Just finished my first experience with the LAXit lot tonight - it went pretty smooth.

Arrived T6 and exited the jetway qt the end of T6 at 11:10pm. I was in my Lyft and on my way by 11:28, details below

Walking out to the curb, I checked prices for both Uber and Lyft. Both about $54 to home for a solo ride (that's about typical for my LAX to home ride), but Lyft had a shared option for half the price, so I picked it. When I've done that before and ended up with a solo ride, I tip back up to the solo fare. It told me to re-open the app when I got to the lot for instructions.

Getting out to the curb on the lower level of T6, the LAXit bus was parked right there with the doors open and already fairly full. The luggage rack was filled already, as were the seats, but there was room to stand without being crowded. There were a few other people standing who got on after me (the bus waited a few minutes to fill). The bus stayed in the dedicated lane and didn't make any other stops (i.e. no stop at T7) until the exit to head out the top of the horseshoe toward LAXit, but had to wait about a minute to cross traffic. Traffic was light getting into the lot, but there was a ton of activity visible in the lot. There were multiple people directing traffic at the intersection at the entrance/exit of the lot to manage where the cars cross the buses. There was no wait getting into the lot.

When I got off the bus, the app had already updated and matched me with a driver (leaving me a little confused) and there were a bunch of people directing passengers to the crosswalks and correct islands for pickup - they send you up the dropoff island 50 yards or so to cross to your pickup. When I got to the Lyft island and asked about the match, they sent me back to almost where I got off the bus (at the end of the taxi island) and said to call my driver and let him to know to use the taxi lane. The Lyft app was also directing me to the labels that matched the end of the taxi island (1A/1B, labeled for Opoli and UberXL, no Lyft signs) rather than the Lyft island. The driver was terribly confused, and said he'd call Lyft to verify, so I disconnected and went to wait, then sent him a text after I verified again. He did show up in the right place and I got aboard, and headed out. Everything from getting off the bus to getting into the Lyft took place in a span of about 5 minutes. We headed out of the lot without any traffic issues and I was on my way.

I was in the lot for so little time that I barely had time to really evaluate things overall other than a) there were a lot of people in vests with flashlights helping direct things, and they seemed to be giving out good information, and b) there were a ton of cabs lined up in the cab line. From the time I hit the terminal doors to the time I was in my ride is probably less than I've had in quite a long time flying into LAX.

They definitely need some better signage in the lot, but they might have been waiting to see how the traffic works well before committing to signs. Skyway rd, lower level headed out of the CTA into the LAXit lot has a bus-only lane (not sure if it did before) so there aren't cars mixing in with the buses to get into the lot from the CTA. There's still a lot of confusion for the drivers - my driver was confused by the instructions to take the taxi lane and I think was worried about getting ticketed, and he hadn't been given any information about shared rides (really all matched rides, probably) using the taxi lane instead of the brand-specific lanes. The driver did say it was a total disaster the first night, but didn't complain about it being bad any other times. The real test will be thanksgiving weekend.

SS255

I landed at LAX after a flight from LHR at 6:15pm on Tuesday, October 29. I must have just missed a shuttle, because only 2 other people were waiting. I waited 15 minutes at T-7 for a shuttle. Two completely full shuttles passed by. Meanwhile, a crowd had gathered. There was no organized queuing system, so the people waiting the longest had no advantage when the next shuttle arrived. The only solution offered by the employee manning the stop was to walk to the lot.

Finally, a minivan marked for LAX-it stopped. It was half full. Luckily, I was able to get on it by reacting quickly. Only about 10 of the waiting people were able to board.

I was only going about 6 miles, so I got into the taxi queue. I waited about 10 minutes. The line was long, but it moved quickly and efficiently.

I cannot even imagine what this will be like in the blazing sun or pouring rain. The umbrellas on the side are useless. They are not positioned in the areas where people queue. And they are simply deck umbrellas. One woman with a lot of luggage and using a cane was just dumped in the taxi queue and left to fend for herself. Everyone was complaining.

The traffic pattern to exit the lot was a disaster. Coming out of T-7, you shoot right out.

Whomever planned and executed this should be fired. This is what it will take to be quasi-acceptable:

Shuttles need to be lined up at every terminal. Fill em up and go. Next one pulls up, etc. The supply must exceed the demand.
There should be plenty of personnel at all locations to assist with luggage.
The lot should be covered throughout its span. Customers should not be exposed to the elements.
Taxis should move back to LAX. Geez, you’re paying that nasty $4 surcharge for a reason, and that surcharge did not go away in this new system. This will enable Uber/Lyft to spread out and make their pickups more efficient.
The traffic patterns need to be fixed if they have not been already. It should be a straight shot to get onto Sepulveda North. We had to go all the way around.

I didn’t experience the Uber or Lyft areas, so I cannot comment on those.

No amount of improvement will make the process faster than simply hopping into a hired ride and slogging through the terminals.

Lkeade

I used the service on opening day, Tuesday, October 29. I felt the signage outside the terminal was good and we had to wait about 10 minutes for a shuttle. It was a quick ride to the new lot. The Uber line was really long but it moved well and there were plenty of lot employees getting people into cars. It took about 20 minutes to get into an Uber. When we had requested a car, we had been given a code and we just had to show the code to a driver before we got into the car. We had a very long ride as our flight into ONT had been cancelled and we were sent to LAX and had to get back to ONT to retrieve our car. We were told that a driver could refuse to take us that far and we would be given another driver, but the first driver was willing to make the 2 hr drive in traffic.

Overall, while not an ideal situation, it was no problem and the terminal had far less congestion than usual. There were stories in the news about people being on the shuttle for an hour and nightmare times getting out of the LAX-It lot, but we did not have those experiences.

nsx

Sunday night I arrived at LAX Terminal 1. I joined a throng of people such as I've never seen on the sidewalk walking toward Sepulveda. Several of them continued with me all the way to Sepulveda. Most crossed the road, presumably going to the Hyatt to catch a ride. I joined about 8 people who caught the 232 bus south. That's more than double the most people I've seen before catching the bus.

One other tip: If your car is near LAX you don't have to drag your checked bags to LAX-it or Sepulveda. You can leave without bags, get a ride to your car, and drive back to LAX for your bags. Short-term parking is free for the first 15 minutes. That's enough time to park, go get the bags, return to your car, and exit.

chrisl137

My ride saturday night with the new system was already better than my last several rides using the old curbside system from T6/7. I've even seen situations where there are no cabs getting to 6/7 because they get filled before they even get there. BOS just started doing something similar, as well, sending all the TNC pickups and dropoffs to a central garage, rather than curbside. And FWIW, buses to the consolidated rental car lot and blue line in BOS are every 6-10 minutes, depending on time of day, and tend to be packed pretty tightly with people - having to ride in a crowded bus to get to your ground transport isn't exactly a new thing.

This morning I drove to LAX and parked in Lot E and took the shuttle. Lot E is up to about 2600 spaces now, I think a bit over half of what C was at its peak, but the shuttles are more frequent. As I was getting to E, traffic up Aviation (the route the shuttle buses take) was looking gridlocked, but less than 10 minutes later as my bus was headed up Aviation it was flowing pretty well. Once we hit the horseshoe it was *way* faster than it's been in the past - I've gotten into the habit of getting off at T1 and walking across, but there was so little traffic in the dedicated bus lanes that I stayed on, and we just sailed around with no traffic. I think technically the bus lanes are intended to be one travel lane and one standing lane for pickup/dropoff, but the buses seem to be running frequently enough and smoothly enough, at least in the morning, that the bus mostly stayed in the right lane and stopped at each terminal without having to go around other stopped buses. I'll see on again on wednesday how the lot E buses are running on the return, and probably will try a regular TNC pickup at peak hours next week.

TWA884

I arrived at T4 shortly after seven tonight. While I did not use a rideshare, as I waiting thirty whole seconds for the Parking Spot shuttle, I did notice that traffic on the upper level roadway was free flowing. Now, if only the Sepulveda off ramp from Century Blvd. was not closed...

chrisl137

Just saw this in the LA Times a few minutes ago - they're increasing the size of the lot by about 50%.

More space for cabs, Lyft moving into new space, Uber taking over old Lyft space.

I'm not sure it's a space in the lot problem so much as a limited I/O for the cars - one lane full of buses can bring people into the lot a lot faster than one lane of cars can get them out. Expanding the lot gives you a little bit more buffer for the matching, but if the output road can't match the peak capacity it will still overflow the input unless the peaks are very short.

DELee

So is this "expansion" eating into more of the Park One lot again?

David