LAX Panel Offers Up Two-Company Shuttle Plan

A plan by Los Angeles International Airport officials to award exclusive shuttle contracts to the area’s two largest van companies--half the number expected--has mom-and-pop operators vowing to fight to protect their airport turf.

An airport staff committee this week revealed that it has selected Phoenix-based SuperShuttle Inc. and Prime Time Shuttle of Sun Valley to become the only non-reservation providers of door-to-door passenger van service at the airport. Together they operate more than half the 600 vans licensed to do business at LAX.

The staff committee will present its recommendation Tuesday to the five-member Airport Commission, which is scheduled to vote on the matter at a public hearing.

Tuesday’s meeting could prove a lively affair, with small shuttle operators promising a loud debate over a decision they claim will put many of them out of business and raise prices for consumers.

“We are not going to take this lying down,” said Roger Moradi, general manager of Xpress Shuttle of Los Angeles. “People’s livelihoods are at stake.”

Citing concerns over air quality, traffic snarls and overzealous competition for passengers, airport officials for years have been trying to thin the crowd of ride-share van companies operating at LAX.

Last year, they announced plans to reduce the number of van companies to a maximum of four full-service firms, down from the 38 currently operating at the nation’s third-busiest airport.

The airport put the concession out for bid, requiring operators to own at least 50 vans and guarantee the airport a minimum of $1 million annually.

The move elicited howls of protest from small operators, who claimed that the bid specifications were stacked in favor of giants such as SuperShuttle and Prime Time. Nevertheless, the mom-and-pops scrambled to form consortia in order to compete for one of the four contracts.

While most conceded that SuperShuttle and Prime Time were virtual locks to win two of the concessions, small operators had hoped that a couple of the consortia would win at least a share of the airport business. Thus, news that airport officials are set to shut out the small fry has some of those groups fuming that the outcome was predetermined from the start.

“It was a complete waste of time and money,” said Ruben Diaz, owner of 3R Express Shuttle, who had teamed up with several other shuttle owners to bid for one of the contracts. “I really feel betrayed by the system.”

If the committee’s recommendation is approved, small van companies would still be free to drop off travelers at LAX, but they could only pick up passengers who have made reservations with their firms. That would shut them out of the lucrative walk-up business that has been the bread and butter of many small operators.

LAX spokeswoman Cora Jackson-Fossett said she couldn’t predict how the Airport Commission would vote Tuesday.

“The board is generally receptive to recommendation of the staff,” she said. “But with something like this, there may be other factors to consider. I anticipate there will be many operators there who want to speak before the board.”

She can count on it, according to Moradi, who has already fired off a letter of protest to Airport Commission President Daniel Garcia. Moradi says shuttle operators have already begun meeting to plot strategy, which includes hiring legal counsel to defend their interests.

Even if the commission approves the committee’s recommendation Tuesday, it will have to be approved by the L.A. City Council, which must sign off on all contracts of three years or more, according to Jackson-Fossett. The proposed shuttle contracts would begin June 1 and last for three years, with two one-year extension options.

Unlike other major airports, which limit the number of passenger van shuttles serving their facilities, LAX has welcomed anyone who could get state Public Utilities Commission approval, after ground transportation was deregulated in the early 1980s.

Van shuttles operate much like taxis by offering door-to-door service. Yet they’re often cheaper than cabs because passengers typically share the ride with others headed to the same part of town.

Although they have provided a welcome alternative to more expensive modes of transportation, only about 4% of the 60 million people who traveled in and out of LAX last year used shuttles.

Airport officials say that’s because consumers are turned off by the aggressive tactics and poorly maintained vehicles of many of the undercapitalized companies that troll the airport, and whose numbers they’ll be looking to reduce Tuesday.