Editor’s note: See the update below.
Starting tomorrow—Tuesday, October 29—a new taxi and rideshare policy at LAX will prohibit taxis, Ubers, Lyfts, and Opolis from picking up passengers at their arriving terminals. Instead, passengers will have to meet their rides at a new pickup area called LAX-it (pronounced like “LA exit”). Terminal-side drop-offs, meanwhile, will still be allowed via taxi, Uber, Lyft, and Opoli.
For passengers awaiting pickup, LAX-it is located at the corner of SkyWay and World Way, about three minutes walking from Terminal 1. The walk is longer from other terminals, however, including nearly 20 minutes from Terminals 4 and 5. If you’re not up for the walk, you’ll also be able to grab a shuttle bus to LAX-it, which they say will stop outside each terminal every 3-5 minutes. Once you’re at LAX-it, there will be food trucks, restrooms and charging stations, plus seating areas and protection from the rain.
Friends, family and livery services don’t have to use the new pickup area at LAX and are still allowed to pull up to the terminals. Blacklane, for example, the personal chauffeur service I work with and love, can still do curbside pickups.
Let’s hope these new rules ease the traffic congestion, because it’s currently a nightmare getting into LAX (especially the departures level).
Update (November 5, 2019):
The launch of LAX-it officially did not go as planned. In response to complaints from passengers (mostly about wait times) and rideshare drivers (mostly about signage), LAX has apologized and made some improvements. See more on what’s been improved in this ABC7 story and in the tweet below:
In the last three days we have:
– Added signage to help guests navigate to #LAXit
–Adjusted traffic patterns to improve shuttle & vehicle flow through the Central Terminal Area & changed roadway markings
–Provided more training to shuttle operators to improve route speeds (4/8)— LAX Airport (@flyLAXairport) November 1, 2019
The area will also be 50% larger starting tomorrow (Wednesday, November 6), which should help. In any case, if you’re looking for a ride from LAX-it, consider checking the LAX Twitter handle (@flyLAXairport) for estimated wait times.
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Family/friends pickups can still be curbside, yes, but no longer at the inner curb which is reserved for the buses. Regular pickups now must happen at the median between the inner and outer lanes of the arrivals level, the area where one previously waited for the FlyAway bus and other shuttles.
We flew in from Oregon on Nov 3rd for the Adobe MAX conference . That new Uber/Lyft/taxi area is a nightmare! It took us 40 minutes to get out Lyft even though the app said 3 minutes. It was confusing and not very efficient. I saw families with young children struggling to manage kids, car seats, strollers, luggage. It was awful. Certainly not the Lyft drivers fault. I can’t imagine standing out there in the dark or very hot days.
Wednesday Oct. 30th, I arrived back home from France (15 hours on two flights via Montréal, the second day of the LAX-it fiasco. I got to the lot and spent 1 1/2 hours standing in line for Lyft. Taxi line looked worse. This at 9 pm – otherwise I could have taken the Santa Monica bus home, but the bus center on 96th is a scary place after dark. There was no chance to use the food trucks, bathrooms, or benches at the LAX-it lot, because the line is constantly, slowly moving. Like Disneyland or Universal but nothing good at the end! As I was feeling sorry for myself, I saw a man walking with a cane. He also could not sit down and wait for the ride, and looked like he was having a really hard time staying on his feet so long.
There is no shade, no water, and no roof in case it rains. How on earth are we supposed to use this system until 2023 (when the people mover is due to be completed)? How on earth are travelers with many bags, small children, or mobility issues supposed to cope with this? I cannot believe the airport just rolled this out cold without testing it and it has made pollution and congestion worse – now the taxi and ride share drivers are bottlenecked and idling in the lot, next to all the passengers in line!
There are other options that have no issue, no standing in line and you get in your own car and leave at your leisure. Try Wally Park!
Can passengers Departing LAX still be dropped off at the terminals by ride share like Uber/Lyft? I’m not clear if this new policy is only for arrivals to LAX or also applies to DEPARTURE from LAX?