LAX Planning New Car Rental Facility

The Los Angeles Times reports this morning that "Los Angeles International Airport officials are drafting plans to build a terminal that will house many of the area's rental car companies." The hope is that the potential move will make finding a rental car easier for Los Angeles travelers, reduce congestion, and reduce air pollution as well. So how will that be done?

Right now, rental car companies are all throughout the airport. Ten rental car companies are allowed to have their shuttles circle the airport, but others can only run a shuttle when a traveler calls them. With the current system, shuttles for rental car companies run about 800,000 times, and only with a few passengers. It is estimated that a combined facility would reduce trips to 437,000, and a potential light rail extension to the facility might decrease that even more. And that's what will bring about the reduction in air pollution and airport traffic congestion.

Such a move would also be handy for passengers. Let's say that you get to your rental car company of choice, but the line is incredibly long, or they're out of the car you want. Well, it takes another bus ride to get to another car company. Not fun. So that should make things simpler.

Of course, the new facility sounds great, until we get to the money part of things. It's estimated that the new facility will cost about $800 million. The airport has been collecting money for the project by charging $10 per rental for the past few years. That's raised only about $47 million. The airport wants to raise as much money as possible this way because that means there's less debt that needs to be issued. As a result, a daily fee is being suggested to increase that revenue. Of course, some rental companies might be concerned that extra fees might hurt their bottom line.

Anyway, the project is still years away, but it sounds promising as this should make life easier for travelers.