'Carmageddon': LA airport apologizes after Uber policy causes gridlock

Ban on curbside rideshare pickups leads passengers to report wait times longer than the flights themselves

Sam Levin in Los Angeles
@SamTLevin Email
Thu 31 Oct 2019 00.12 GMT
Last modified on Thu 31 Oct 2019 00.14 GMT

Los Angeles international airport (LAX) has apologized for “unacceptable” wait times after a new policy banning Uber and Lyft from picking up passengers at the curb led to major traffic jams and delays.

The new system at the country’s second-busiest airport requires travelers to take a shuttle to a separate area to meet their rideshare drivers, and a bumpy rollout on Tuesday resulted in gridlock and overcrowded shuttles, as well as some passengers waiting more than an hour for their rides.

LAX apologized late on Tuesday night for “unacceptable level of service”, admitting there were long waits for shuttles, congestion on the buses, and then long waits for Ubers and Lyfts at the lot.

“It was carmageddon,” Nicole Moore, a Lyft driver in LA, said. Moore, who is also a volunteer organizer with Rideshare Drivers United, wasn’t at LAX herself but said she had heard from drivers who waited 40 or 50 minutes to pick up passengers: “We’re not paid for those minutes … This is not good for anyone right now.”

The changes in the airport were aimed at addressing congestion in the terminal area of LAX, which has been a growing problem and is expected to get worse due to upcoming construction projects. The airport said shuttles were supposed to arrive every three to five minutes to take travelers to a lot it has called LAXit, where they can then get their Uber or Lyft ride.

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