There are a couple places where I regularly board a shuttle vehicle that takes me to and from an off-airport parking lot or offsite rental car facility. Two come to mind as frightening experiences.

1. Cleveland rental car center: These shuttle buses are lacking in suspension components. From the nonexistent shock absorbers to the uncushioned "foam" seats, it feels like there is nothing between the rider and the potholes that make up Cleveland area roads and highways. Each small indentation is met with a resounding boom as the shuttle bottoms out and a small trail of lug nuts and undercarriage bolts is strewn along the path.

2. PreFlight parking Atlanta: The vehicles are fine, but the drivers are card-carrying maniacs, NASCAR wannabes and sqeaky voiced teenage drag racers. No, the shuttles don't go from 0 to 60 in 4.7 seconds. But with a couple of green lights, the driver can usually build up a sufficient head of steam to take the first curved overpass on Camp Creek Parkway on the two left tires alone with nothing protecting you from the road below but the oft-replaced guard rail.

Any other nominations?

Any SuperShuttle location! Bad!

Here in Britain there is special legislation and regular checks concerning buses, right down to 12-seat van level.

I cannot believe the condition of some of those in the US, they certainly would be removed from the road by an inspector in the UK. This particularly applied to the S.... S...... company.

Back when UA had a remote terminal at LAX, several of the shuttle drivers were seriously scary. The only time I have ever filed a complaint with the station manager (and got a phone call) was after a threat from one of those drivers (witnessed by several others)

I nominate BWI.

the bus service to the lots is awarded on a political plum basis (as is most activity at the airport), including management positions.

30 min waits are not unusual. missed stops are common. 4 busses in a row is standard.

the saving grace of BWI parking is all this mis service has created one of the largest 3rd party parking businesses in the world. the 3rd party service is the finest available. pickup at the car upon parking, pickup at the airport within 5 minutes.

I would guess there to be 5-10,000 spaces of private parking. at $6 a head, and a 75% filled rate, BWI is blowing $33k a day, over 12 mil a year.

the busses tend to be pretty crummy also.

Seconding the CLE rental lot drivers

One hotel that I stayed in several years ago had two shuttle vans. The vans' drivers had the habit of leaving them running all the time while waiting for people, even though the weather was temperate. Both vans' interiors reeked of their own exhaust (one gasoline, one diesel).

I second that! (For the shared rental car bus in my case.)

I'll also add the inter-terminal shuttle at LAX -- seriously scary!

I do not know of any good ones...some are just worst then others in my view.

SMF horrid,lazy,rude,slow,lying and stupid shuttle drivers-the worst I have experienced.

Has to be Super Shuttle at Dulles and LAX