Short-term parking rates recently rose from $40/day to $50/day at LAX after rising from $30 to $40 in 2019. $20/day in less than three years is quite a steep price hike. Is this simply an issue of supply and demand or there is more behind the price increase? A new off-site economy class parking lot may help to explain it.
LAX Short-Term Parking Rates Rise Again
On October 19, 2021, short-term parking rates at LAX rose from $40/day to $50/say. Rates had previously risen on January 1, 2019 from $30/day to $40/day.
That’s worse inflation than gas prices soaring to $6+ gallon….
But there’s a twist here. Four days before parking rates went up, LAX unveiled a brand new parking structure, known as LAX Economy Parking or Intermodal Transportation Facility-West. It is a $294 million, 1.7-million-square-foot facility that will offer 4,300 new parking stalls. Prices will top out at $25/day, but pricing will be variable based upon demand. Furthermore, discounts will be available for reservations made online. I will check out this facility and review it on my next trip.
Eventually, this new parking facility will connect to the airport directly by automated people mover (ATM).
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On a personal note, I have a problem with parking costs — purely an idiosyncrasy separate from logic. Sometimes I will park on residential streets in Westchester to avoid three days of parking fees. I justify it my mind that the $100-120 saved is money I can use for my family instead. It works for me and I don’t mind the walk.
For day trips, I’ve left my car in the short-term lot, but every dollar counts and at $50/day, I don’t even think I’ll be using it for short trips.
This doesn’t seem to be a supply-demand issue, as I never have trouble finding a spot in short-term parking. But as the airport transforms itself ahead of the 2028 Summer Olympic Games, one could argue that it makes more sense for the actual users of LAX to underwrite the construction costs rather than all LA taxpayers.
On a positive note, hopefully the higher pricers will lead to less congestion around the terminals.
CONCLUSION
Short-term parking rates at LAX are rising again to coincide with the new off-site economy class parking lot. I guess the bottom line for me is that I’m going to start getting more exercise at LAX parking way off-site (and I will be arriving earlier going forward) so the news could be worse. But another 20% increase for short-term parking? A little much, wouldn’t you say?
image: Joshua Sudock / LAX
Those discounts for reserved parking are not just for the Economy Parking lot. I just went on the site to check out pricing for an upcoming trip and for 5 days I was quoted $100 ($20/day) at the new Econ Lot, but only $140 ($28/day) at Terminal 7 parking (T2/T3 were $170/$34). That’s pretty great for in-terminal parking, so not all bad news.
I imagine that as people figure it out, the lower prices will sell out quickly. The higher-priced T2/T3 lots show 7/17 spaces left at that price, so I assume prices will just climb higher as you get closer to the date (I was looking for dates a couple of weeks away). You have to pre-pay but you can change/refund up to 2 hours in advance.
Didn’t the economy lot used to be $12/day? Ripoff in my book. You should try parking at the Aviation metro lot, $3 day and the most frequent shuttle IMO to LAX, they schedule the shuttle for every 7-10 minutes.
The parking rules state 3 day maximum but I had no problem with a 5 day stint, paid for 3 days then renewed after on the parking app.
Free parking in Westchester (then walking or ride hailing?) is more convenient than taking Metro to Aviation/LAX, you say?
And if they can spend $294 million and ATM, for a new parking, why don’t they extend the Metro for a few miles to the terminal?
Just my unAmerican thinking.
LA is a massive city. The Metro is pretty much worthless and there simply are not enough Metro lines to make it convenient. It probably would take 2 hours just to get to Aviation station from Burbank/Glendale.
However, they are building the gold line extension now but who knows how long that will take….just take a look at the purple line extension progress…
@surfer
.>It probably would take 2 hours just to get to Aviation station from Burbank/Glendale.
If leaving from Burbank Downtown, it’s faster to take Antelope Valley Line 208, then change to LAX FlyAway, it takes only an hour total.
I’ve saved you an hour. You’re welcome.
I used to take Metro from downtown to LAX all the time. It’s very convenient and affordable, but it’s incredible to think that they can’t just extend the green line a little further to LAX.
Come on, Matthew, This isn’t jacking the prices at all. It’s “Due to customer feedback we’re improving your parking experience by increasing prices”. It’s simply an enhancement. Don’t be such a Gloomy Gus.
I never ever park my car at an airport parking. Many years ago I met a Uber driver that became my trusted driver when I need to go to and from the airport. He charges me the equivalent of parking for 4 days at my airport for a round trip from my home to the airport and back but adds the convenience of leaving my car at home, not having to find a parking spot, etc… It is very convenient and I help him with a lot of rides.
LAWA run economy lot charging $25 may sound ridiculous, but if they went for the pre-pandemic $12, given the private lots’ current supply-demand, the new structure will be immediately filled to capacity. Capacity is already an issue at the CTA lots that LAWA has to add a tracker to its website. The private lots’ prices have reached a level LAWA had to raise the rates from $40 to $50 to discourage some users.
Is this new structure why Lot E closed?
LAX publishes how full their parking lots are every 30 minutes on Twitter, and I’ve noticed lately that the short term garages are almost always at capacity. Part of that is that parts of them are closed for the APM construction, but a lot of it is due to an increase in passengers (as plenty of people in LA will pay $40-$50/day). Hopefully the new rates and new economy parking garage help with that.