Suzannah Rubinstein over at Spot Hero’s Parking Exec has done yeomen’s work investigating and comparing the cost of parking at an airport vs. taking Uber or Lyft. You can read about it here.
She found that in 80 percent of the cases, it costs less to drive and park than to take Uber or Lyft. The further away you live, the more you save by driving yourself. We are running the entire article in PT in July.
While I can’t disagree with Suzannah’s research, there is one thing. Its more convenient (and perhaps quicker) to take Uber. Load the bags at your front door, unload at the terminal. Likewise, there is something to be said for having the freedom of your own car. You can stop at the office, pick up something from the store, or just park at the beach and unwind.
However, that having been said, isn’t it time for our industry to start promoting this information. We as an industry panic at the slightest push back, but when we learn the facts, we shrug and let someone else promote. Could not someone reach out to the off airport parking operators and generate some bucks to make this happen? Wouldn’t the airports themselves be interested in such a program. (Christine and Shawn call you office.)
Airports are allowing promotion of Lyft (see picture above). Strange they are competing with themselves, but there you are. My friends say that its only $35 to take Uber to LAX. Of course that doesn’t count if there is surge pricing, or if they need a larger car (you have bags after all.) But remember, says Suzannah, you take Uber two ways — suddenly its $75, or $100 bucks.
Take a look at Suzannah’s article. The numbers are shocking, shocking I say.
JVH
2 Responses
Unless government somehow regulates it all this new technology could have the exact opposite effect of what people think, and we could see more single occupancy vehicle travel in the future. There are many that believe the advent of “smart cars” and other technology will lead to a tremendous increase in the number of miles driven by individuals, which in turn means it is entirely possible that parking demand over the next 20-30 years will increase by a significant amount.
http://jacksonville.com/breaking-news/2016-05-16/story/think-traffic-bad-now-autonomous-cars-could-push-congestion-massive
If people that write articles cared more about writing great material like you, more readers would read their content. It’s refreshing to find such original content in an otherwise copy-cat world. Thank you so much.