Airport to Increase Parking Fees

Burbank Airport officials have agreed to dramatically increase parking fees at lots convenient to the terminal to encourage more travelers to use remote parking lots and relieve airport parking and traffic congestion.

Maximum daily parking rates will increase Sept. 1 from $5 to $24--more than double the rate charged by any other Southern California airport, officials said.

The rate changes, adopted unanimously Monday by the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority, are designed to make convenient parking more available to motorists seeking to park for only an hour or two. Many motorists wishing to drop off travelers, meet them or pick up airline tickets now can find parking spaces only in remote areas.

Current Rates

Parking rates in lots closest to the terminal now are 50 cents an hour, $5 a day maximum. Rates at remote lots are $4 daily. Airport officials said long-term travelers who arrive at the airport early in the week frequently fill the most convenient spaces by midweek, forcing short-term visitors to park far away from the terminal or in remote lots.

A traffic study conducted at the airport by Wadell Engineering, San Francisco Bay Area airport traffic specialists, found that 60% of an average 1,600 vehicles at the airport daily are there less than two hours.

Under the new plan, the rate for parking in the most convenient facility, a four-level garage with 400 spaces, will increase to $1 an hour--$24 a day. Long-term parking for 1,700 vehicles in other lots adjacent to the terminal will increase from $5 a day to $8.

Remote Lots Keep Rate

The rate for parking at two remote lots, which provide a total of 2,000 spaces, will remain $4 a day, said Dwight Scoville, airport services deputy director. Free shuttle service to the terminal is provided from the remote lots and outlying parking areas, Scoville said.

Airport officials said rate changes would increase parking revenues by $1.5 million annually--a 40% increase over current revenues of $3.7 million. A part of the increased revenues may be set aside to build a controversial new terminal building twice the size of the present terminal, airport officials said.

However, Scoville said, the rates have been adopted “not so much as a revenue generator but rather as a means of discouraging travelers from using short-term lots for extended periods of time.”

The new rates are the highest among six alternatives proposed by the airport staff.

Daily parking rates at other airports range from $2.75 to $5.25 at Ontario, $4 to $10 at John Wayne in Orange County, $6 to $12 at Long Beach and $3 to $10 at Los Angeles International.