I finally had the chance check out the new LAXit ridesharing system at Los Angeles International Airport after a recent trip. It was annoying, but not nearly as bad as I was expecting.
I arrived into LAX around 9:00PM, which is a peak time for departures but a somewhat more quiet time for arrivals. Stepping out onto the curb on the arrivals level, I noticed a pillar painted green with a round “LAXit Shuttle Stop” sign.
Two men wearing green polo shirts were stationed to answer questions. A crowd of about 10 was waiting and we were informed a shuttle would arrive shortly. Well, shuttle after shuttle drove by, but none stopped for us. The easily-recognizable new LAXit shuttles are painted neon green, and most had very few people on them.
I was told that each pair of terminals is sent their own shuttle (1/2, 3/4, TBIT, 5/6, 7/8). That makes sense in theory — imagine if every shuttle started in Terminal 1 and had to make its away around the horseshoe-shaped terminal structure at LAX. The shuttle would likely fill up before it reached terminals 6, 7, 0r 8. Plus, it would simply take too long.
But we still had to wait 15 minutes for a bus. That is unacceptable. The crowd had grown to 25 people by the time the shuttle finally arrived. If needed, the staff in green will help you load your bags onto the bus. Tips are not accepted.
We made the 7-minute trip to the rideharing/taxi lot, which is located adjacent to Terminal 1.
You step off the bus in the center row, which is designated for taxis. The row closest to Terminal 1 is for Uber and Opoli while the third row is for Lyft.
Lyft was about $8 cheaper than Uber, so I chose that. I had no wait for a driver. There were about one dozen lined up. I simply presented my code, it was inputted by the driver, and I was soon on my way. That could not have been easier.
CONCLUSION
Overall, the process was smoother than I thought. Still, keeping passengers waiting for 15 minutes (some longer) before a shuttle arrives is too long. But the lot itself was well-organized and easy to navigate.
By the way, 121pilot recently shared about a way to save big on Uber or Lyft during a period of surge pricing. Since there was no surge pricing while I was there, the prices on-site or off-site were nearly identical.
> Read More: How To Save Big On Uber And Lyft At LAX
> Read More: “LAXit” Will Expand After Rough First Week
Some terminal pairs are less crowded. For example, 7/8 is really just 7 and they get one shuttle line.
Terminal 3 and 4 are far apart. Terminal 3 (Delta, previously TWA and Alaska) is near 1/2 and far from 4 (AA). If you don’t want to wait and think all terminal pairs have equal number of buses assigned, then go to Terminal 3.
In Las Vegas, they have a shortage of rental car center buses. At the rental car center going to the airport, there are far more T1 buses than T3. Look at the line. If they are roughly the same or T1 is slightly longer, use the T1 line. You have to lie to the attendants who insist on knowing “what airline?”
On most days or nights I’ve waited longer than 22 minutes (your combined bus wait and ride length) for my Uber to arrive. Waiting for the green bus sucks, but I like the system now.
Good review and photos though. It shows people that the system really has improved since it started. And the few times I’ve been picked up by private car have been so much faster.
(I’m sure over Thanksgiving weekend there will be lots of new stories and blogs about how terrible LAX-it is….and how long the wait times were, but that’s an impossible situation and not typical anymore.)
Is the rideharing/taxi lot connected to Terminal 1 through any walkable pathways?
Surely can walk there outside on sidewalk from T-1 baggage claim. Go outside and turn left and cross one set of streets and it will be on your left . . . unless they made it so there is no entrance from the sidewalk but that would be dumb. They took our Park-One parking lot to make LAX-it. Always walked from Park-One to/from T-1.
No, you have to outside on the ground level.
I like when Lyft uses the code. This makes things move much more quickly. I wish all airports using Lyft would adopt this same code method. It really works!
LAX-it stole my Park N’ Fly lot, and I want it back 🙁
Me too.
Grrr!!! Agreed. I’m not happy about it. Is the Park N’ Fly lot totally gone?
Only some long-term parked cars remain. Lot has been swallowed-up by LAX-it.
Two weeks ago I waited 25 minutes for a shuttle from Bradley to the lot. It was chaos. Elderly people struggled with bags. Non-English speakers were confused. Driver was painfully slow. Took 40 minutes from curb to cab. Taxi drivers hate the new arrangement. Me, too.
I recently return to southern California on an IAH-ONT flight instead of IAH-LAX, which is more typical. I did this for two reasons: 1) I specifically wanted to avoid the whole LAX-it mess and 2) I figured that the upgrade possibilities were better flying IAH-ONT, even though I would be traveling on a United Embraer-175.
Well, reason #2 was justified. I … didn’t do so well with regards to reason #1. There was no Uber at ONT that evening for reasons that I don’t understand, and my taxi ride home was over $100!!! (The excessive fare should be reimbursed, but still …) Looks like I’ll have to suck it up and embrace LAX-it. Just someone please tell me that walking to the LAX-it lot is still feasible!
LA Times November 6 article has a quote from someone who walked to the LAX-it lot from T-1.
THANKS! Found the quote and is helpful as I want to walk from T1 to LAXit
Barbara Najar, 44, who was returning from a trip to Las Vegas, said she knew about the complaints regarding the new pickup system before coming to L.A. Najar walked the short distance between Terminal 1 and the pickup lot and ordered her Uber from there.
“It was actually fine — super-organized,” she said, and it was better than “running around in circles” looking for a ride.
Uber is boycotting ONT pick ups for the time being due to ONT getting greedy and upping the fee for ridesharing companies. The argument is why should there be a fee equal to the one levied at major airports like LAX (with huge infrastructure implications) for an airport the size of ONT. Lyft accepted the fee increase, however.
The workaround for Uber at ONT is to just take the rental car shuttle and walk a few steps to the PUBLIC street in front of the rental car center.
@Amanda, you can walk fairly easy from Terminal 1 to the LAX-it area. It should take no more than 3 minutes, using the ground floor level and crossing one street. I believe this is the fastest way to go – as you don’t have to wait for a shuttle to drive around a portion of LAX before arriving at the LAX-it lot.
@mojo, I agree with you! I miss the former Park N’ Fly lot! Now, PNF sends you over to Wally Park, which is a pain in the …
SO_CAL_RETAIL_SLUT
I was there two weeks ago at midnight and it was over 90 minutes and $75 from United baggage claim to downtown LA. I walked to the lot in 10 mins and the rest was waiting. They would not let my driver go into the lane the App told him to go into. The guy next to me had an Uber coming from Orange county and arriving in 52 minutes. I talked to a security guard that was waiting for his ride. He said he gets off at midnight and got a Lyft Line for the last few months and was home by 1230 and spent about $8. He said he now gets home after 1am and spends almost $20. My driver told me that he took a rider to the same hotel he was taking me to and the ride cost $137 and he got to keep $97.
It seemed to do the same to traffic as SFO the first time I departed from LAX. From the freeway offramp to terminal 4 was around 5 mins. I was willing to accept this setup in exchange for a less congested airport. That was short-lived because the next time I flew out of LAX two days later, it was backed up just as bad as before. It was surprising that it would have been that bad on a Thursday evening. Took 30 mins from freeway/tunnel to terminal 4.
When did you request your Lyft ride? While waiting for the shuttle? Once on the shuttle? After getting off the shuttle?
After arriving at the lot. But I was monitoring wait times the entire time.
I tried LA Xit Sunday after Thanksgiving. I was flying with 3 kids. Overall it was a TERRIBLE experience.
-No one would help us with our bags onto the green bus (can’t imagine how anyone physically disabled or elderly could handle it)
– Green bus was packed like sardines
– The wait for Uber was >1 hour, Lyft was 20-30 minutes, but taxis were 15 minutes. We elected for the taxi but it was freezing wait for over 20 minutes , then driver would only accept cash (who carries that anymore?)
– Overall it cost double, was inconvenient & stressful. And traffic still sucked.