This morning’s Daily Breeze covers the latest news from the City of Los Angeles’ Board of Airport Commissioners:
Only 10 rental car companies will be allowed to drive their shuttle vans through Los Angeles International Airport’s crowded terminal area under a new policy LAX directors unanimously adopted Tuesday.
Customers of the other 29 companies licensed to operate at LAX will have to take an airport bus to a remote parking lot where they will transfer to rental car courtesy vans, a practice known as “double busing.”
Airport officials say the change, which is to take effect next month, is aimed at cutting from 1 million to 810,000 the number of annual rental car shuttle trips through the terminal area, and increasing annual rental car revenue by up to $8.2 million. Currently, all rental car companies are allowed to send shuttles through the terminal area.
I’ve talked about this kind of ‘SkyBox Liberalism’ in the past, where a government agency has regulatory control and uses it to maximize its own revenues at the expense of the overall good of the community it serves. In this case, the 29 smaller car rental companies will probably be driven out of business by the decision, but since the 10 large ones will in turn raise their payments to the airport (and doubtless their charges to their customers, who will have fewer choices), the Commission supports the plan.
Who gains? The big players and the bureaucracy, who has more funds to spend on ‘economic development’. Who loses? The paying customers, who are inconvenienced and overcharged, and the local economy as the small business owners who really drive the local economy are driven under by their inability to successfully play politics.
I don’t own or work for any of these companies, and have no dog in this fight. But I’d encourage folks to drop a line to the board at infoline@lawa.org or to Mayor Hahn at MayorHahn@mayor.lacity.org and let them know what you think.