Travelers moving through the Los Angeles International Airport, or LAX, using ride-share or taxi services should brace themselves for the Sunday evening rush, airport officials warned.
LAX was expecting almost 54,000 passengers arriving between 5 p.m. and midnight – 16.5% more than the 45,000 Saturday night, according to an LAX press release.
The notice came just days after a new LAX policy was implemented requiring ride-shares and taxis to wait at a new pickup lot, dubbed LAX-it, instead of meeting passengers at the curb. Curbside drop-offs are unaffected by the new policy.
The press release estimated average wait times for shuttles at three to five minutes, with a travel time of 10-15 minutes to the lot. Ride-share app wait times had decreased from a high of over an hour to a non-peak wait time of about 15 minutes, according to the airport.
That estimate fluctuated greatly Sunday afternoon and evening, ranging from approximately 35 minutes for Uber at about 1:30 p.m. to 16 minutes at 5 p.m. Taxis and Lyft enjoyed a significantly shorter estimated wait time, according to an official LAX Twitter account.
LAX’s new system was intended to reduce traffic during construction of the Automatic People Mover train.
“Sunday is always the busiest day of the week for LAX, and it is expected that this first Sunday of LAX-it operations will be no exception. [Los Angeles World Airports] officials are doing everything possible to make the peak of the week as smooth as possible,” the press release stated.
The number of shuttles ferrying passengers to LAX-it was increased by 15% Friday to 35 vehicles, and the Sunday notice explained that additional shuttles and staff would be present to improve ride-share wait times.
There was an average of 13,000 fewer vehicles per day in the Central Terminal Area of the airport in the first five days of LAX-it than during the previous week, according to the press release.
LAX reports approximate wait times at LAX-it on Twitter at @flyLAXairport. Parking availability and travel times are reported on Twitter at @FlyLAXstats.
Photo Credit: Bloomberg via Getty Images
Source: NBC Los Angeles
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