LAX bans ride-hailing pick-ups at terminals

Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) is to ban ride-hailing companies such as 8336 Uber and 8789 Lyft from picking up passengers outside its terminals.

The draconian move, which is planned to come into force later this month, is in a bid to reduce congestion at the airport - although the Los Angeles Times <%$Linker:2External<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary />000link-external reportsfalsehttps://www.latimes.com/california/story/2019-10-03/lax-to-end-curbside-pickup-uber-lyftfalsefalse%> that passengers will still be able to book rides home from a parking lot near Terminal 1, which can be reached by airport shuttle.

Questions over ride-hailing’s contribution to gridlock continue to be asked, particularly in environments which offer limited routes in which traffic can be managed.

Drop-offs at LAX terminals will still be allowed, but airport officials point to significant increases in passenger volumes over the past decade, and ongoing infrastructure improvement work which has led to frequent lane closures, as the reasons behind the ban.

Keith Wilschetz, deputy executive director of the operations and emergency management division at Los Angeles World Airports, told the LA Times: “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. This is a way we can do that.''