Worlds most expensive Uber could soon be at LAX as riders brace for 140% price hike
Getting to the airport may soon become a lot more expensive — and it has nothing to do with gas.Los Angeles International Airport is weighing a plan that could jack up fees for Uber, Lyft and taxis, potentially adding new charges to rides in and out of the busy travel hub.Under a proposal headed to the Los Angeles Board of Airport Commissioners on Tuesday, airport officials want to introduce a $6 base access fee for rideshare drivers, taxis and other commercial vehicles entering LAX — the first major adjustment to the fee structure in about a decade.Drivers who want to pull up directly to the airport’s crowded terminal curbs could face an additional $6 charge, bringing the total to $12 per pickup or drop-off inside the Central Terminal Area.That means someone now paying $10 in fees, round trip, would pay $24, or 140% more.Under the current plan, riders pay $4 to $5 access fees.“A 140% fee hike with no transparency or public process is indefensible,” Danielle Lam, Uber’s head of local California policy, said in a statement to the LA Daily News.
“Raising the LAX rideshare fee from $5 to $12 at the curb would punish travelers, working families, and seniors who depend on affordable, reliable transportation.Uber supports improving LAX, but not on the backs of the people who keep it running.”Airport officials say the hike is overdue, arguing that the current fees haven’t changed in 10 years despite billions of dollars poured into massive upgrades at LAX.
The proposal is also being billed as a way to “manage congestion” and encourage the use of the airport’s long-delayed automated people mover, which is expected to be operational by the second half of this year.The people mover is an electric train that will take people between terminals, parking garages, a car rental hub and the Metro rail system in just 10 minutes.But construction has stalled repeatedly, having started in 2019, airport officials say that the rail won’t be ready until the seco...