Parking Company Says LAX Traffic Study Biased against Passenger Shuttles

VOICES--TPS Parking Management, doing business as The Parking Spot (TPS) filed a legal challenge to the Los Angeles World Airport's (LAWA) Environmental Impact Report for the Landside Access Modernization Plan (LAMP), asserting that the report's conclusions would negatively impact thousands of Los Angeles area residents who are members of the company's loyalty program. 

A primary goal of LAMP is the reduction of traffic within the Central Terminal Area (CTA) of the airport. However, the traffic study conducted to evaluate traffic reduction within the CTA was flawed and biased in favor of single passenger commercial vehicles, to the detriment of multiple passenger commercial shuttles.

Specifically, the traffic study analyzed traffic reduction based on the exclusion of commercial shuttles from the CTA, such as those operated by TPS and other offsite parking operators, while assuming all single passenger commercial vehicles would retain such access.

“The Parking Spot fully supports the mission of the LAMP project – to reduce congestion in and around LAX while revitalizing the airport with needed infrastructure in order to provide a world-class travel experience for the public’s benefit,” said Kevin Shrier, The Parking Spot’s CEO. "When LAWA decision makers consider who gets vehicular access to the CTA, it is critical that they can reference reliable comprehensive data to analyze and consider all potential options," he continued.

The recent certification of the EIR triggered a 30-day time limit within which the flawed traffic study had to be legally challenged. TPS has over 140,000 members in its Spot Club customer loyalty program who are local Los Angeles area residents, and who will be negatively impacted if TPS shuttles are denied access to the CTA.

"For years, The Parking Spot has cultivated a partnership with LAWA while also actively assisting with congestion reduction efforts by serving as a passenger aggregator and utilizing clean fuel shuttles," said Shrier. "The Parking Spot looks forward to continuing both that partnership and further relieving congestion in the future.”

The traffic study failed to analyze alternative options for reducing congestion at the CTA, such as the exclusion of single passenger commercial vehicles from the CTA while permitting commercial shuttles such access. Additionally, the traffic analysis was based on outdated data which fails to account for the future of transportation; for example, ride-sharing companies like Uber and Lyft were not operating at the airport at the time the data was collected and analysis conducted.

(Benjamin Reznik is a Los Angeles attorney.)

-cw