Prime Time Shuttle Halts Service at 5 Airports

Prime Time Shuttle has suspended its passenger van service at Los Angeles International, Ontario, Bob Hope, John Wayne and Long Beach airports after state officials determined that the firm lacked adequate insurance, airport officials said Friday.

Prime Time operates about 150 vans and handles almost a third of the door-to-door shuttle business at LAX, said Los Angeles World Airports, the agency that runs LAX and Ontario.

SuperShuttle International, which runs about twice as many vans, handles the rest.

Because this is not a particularly busy travel time, Paul Haney, a spokesman for Los Angeles World Airports, said SuperShuttle should be able to handle all the shuttle business until Prime Time resolves its insurance problem.

Kellie L. Woodburn, director of marketing and communications for Prime Time, said the company expects to have its vans operating again by Monday afternoon.

The state Public Utilities Commission determined last week that Prime Time did not have a valid insurance policy, said Sheri Inouye Boles, a commission spokeswoman.

Haney said the commission notified the airport agency, which suspended Prime Time’s operating permit.

Officials at Bob Hope and John Wayne airports followed suit. Woodburn said that, because of the commission’s decision, Prime Time decided to suspend operations in Long Beach as well.

Though Prime Time and SuperShuttle provide all the shared-ride, shuttle-van service at LAX, several other companies provide scheduled bus service to and from that airport.

They include: Airport Bus, which serves Anaheim and Buena Park; Airport Bus of Bakersfield, which serves Bakersfield; Antelope Valley Airport Express, which serves Newhall, Palmdale and Lancaster; Metropolitan Express, which serves downtown Los Angeles and Union Station; Santa Barbara Airbus, which serves Carpinteria, Santa Barbara and Goleta; and Ventura County Airporter, which serves Oxnard and Ventura.