REMINDER -- PARKING RATES AT LAX AND VAN NUYS AIRPORTS TO INCREASE OCTOBER 2; GOALS ARE TO REDUCE CONGESTION AT LAX, INCREASE PARKING AVAILABILITY AT BOTH AIRPORTS

(Los Angeles, California – September 30, 2000) Los Angeles World Airports is reminding the general public that parking rate increases for Los Angeles International Airport ‘s (LAX) Central Terminal Area parking structures and the Van Nuys FlyAway go into effect Monday, October 2.

These rate increases are designed to reduce traffic congestion in the Central Terminal Area at LAX by increasing parking availability at both airports. The increases are being made in conjunction with two measures implemented at LAX this past summer -- the allocation of nearly half of all slots in the parking structures as short-term with two-hour maximum and the opening of a new parking structure and adjacent metered parking lot with a combined 1,000 spaces. Short-term users will be more likely to find parking spaces, instead of adding to traffic congestion by waiting at terminal curbside or circling the Central Terminal Area roadways. The new rates are designed to encourage long-term users to park in remote Lots B and C.

New rates in the parking structures adjacent to the LAX terminals will be $1 per 30 minutes up to a maximum $24 per day. The current rate, established in 1990, is a maximum $16 daily. The low rates at remote Lots B and C will remain $5 and $7 per day, respectively, with free parking for the first two hours and free, frequent LAX shuttle bus service to all the passenger terminals.

The daily parking rate at the Van Nuys FlyAway parking lot will increase from $1 to $2 per day, with a 15-day maximum stay. The current $1 rate, established in 1984, attracted many non-travelers who used the lot for parking and not for travel to LAX, thereby hindering the successful San Fernando Valley service from providing service to even more than the current 750,000 annual users. VNY FlyAway fares for the 27-mile, one-way ride are $3.50 one way and $6 round trip for adults. Children under two years old are free and children from two to 12 years are $1.75 each way.

The Los Angeles Board of Airport Commissioners approved the rate increases July 18, 2000. The new rate at LAX will place the airport at a level equivalent to other large airports. For example, San Francisco International Airport charges $22 for the first day and $35 for each following day. Burbank Airport charges $24 per day in its short-term lots.

The parking rate increases are part of a multi-faceted program to mitigate traffic congestion at LAX. During the past year, airport officials have spent tens of millions of dollars hiring nearly 100 additional traffic officers to manage and direct traffic, as well as to enforce curbside parking restrictions; building the new parking structure; consolidating door-to-door shuttle van services which eliminated nearly 1,000 vehicle circuits daily in the Central Terminal Area; and installing new signage designating more short-term parking spaces.

Additional traffic improvements expected to begin later this year before the Thanksgiving holiday, as well as within the next 18 months include:

• Mandatory reduction in the number of times courtesy vehicles for rental car, hotel, and off-airport parking services can circle the Central Terminal Area (late 2000-early 2001)
• Improved traffic signage (April 2001)
• New transportation operations facility with a state-of-the-art "intelligent transportation" traffic signal system to help monitor and locally control traffic (April 2001)
• Real-time monitoring by the public of parking and traffic conditions via the airport’s internet website at www.lawa.org (June 2001)
• Expanding the popular Van Nuys FlyAway and building other FlyAway stations throughout Los Angeles County (feasibility study is underway).