What's Old is New Again: Parking at the Airport
In my old days of travel, the 90s and 00s, I'd drive to the airport and park. Parking was expensive, but taxis were even more expensive. Even when parking for a whole week I could often find coupon that made it cheaper than two taxi rides. Plus, taxis were unpredictable. After calling for a pickup at my house I might wait 30 minutes for a driver to show. Though parking at the airport entailed its own form of waiting... like waiting up to 20 minutes for a shuttle from remote parking to the airport, then the agonizingly slow and/or long ride in the shuttle.
Uber and its imitators like Lyft changed that up in the early 2010s. Suddenly instead of using 50 year old technology to dispatch 20 year old cars, I could hail a ride in a near-new car using my smartphone. And it was half the price of a taxi. And I could pay with a credit card without arguing. Driving to the airport and parking became a rarity.
Over time Lyft and Uber have become more expensive. A ride between my house and SJC now runs around $30 normally with surge pricing of $50+ at peak times and late evenings. SFO is $50-60 normally, $80+ on surges. And that's before tip. Ten years ago tipping was not a thing with Uber and Lyft. They added that in, and we users accepted it, because they were screwing their drivers and we felt sympathetic. Bottom line, Uber/Lyft prices have increased to the point that driving and parking is attractive again, on shorter trips.
I did a quick cost comparison ahead of my day trip to Phoenix yesterday. I realized I could park in the hourly lot for probably half the price of two Lyft/Uber rides. Unlike the long-term lot or an offsite lot, which requires those infuriating shuttle rides, the hourly lot is seriously convenient to the terminal.
The photo above shows where I parked (black SUV on the right) relative to the terminal (straight ahead). It was just a few minutes' walk to the terminal door. That totally beats the old rigamarole of the long-term lot with waiting up to 20 minutes each way for a shuttle bus and then shuttling miles at low speed.
Edited to add: Driving and parking also gave me certainty about my schedule. There were no doubts about how long it would take a ride share to arrive of if the driver would cancel. One of my colleagues scheduled an Uber for 5:30am the night before- and the driver simply didn't show. 😨 He had to hail another ride after giving up, then that driver canceled and another was assigned. The net result was he got to the airport 30 minutes later than expected and arrived at the boarding gate only 2 minutes before boarding began. What bullshit! I am so glad I wasn't playing that game.
On the way home last night I was pleased all over again with how convenient and cost-effective the arrangement was. During the flight I made arrangements via text to meet Hawk for dinner- but the dinner date needed to be timely because it was already getting late. The plane docked at the gate at 7:20pm, I was in the terminal by 7:25, minutes later I was riding the escalator down past baggage claim, and....
BAM! I could literally see my car from the escalator down into the arrivals hall. No waiting 20 minutes for a shuttle bus that drives slowly to a remote parking lot. No waiting 10 minutes for a Lyft that says "4 minutes away" for 6 minutes. For amusement I timed my walk from the terminal door to my car door. 1 minute 52 seconds. 💥
Less than 15 minutes later I met Hawk at a favorite local pizzeria, Giovanni's. I arrived just as she was getting out of the car. A delicious meal together was a great way to wind down a day that had already been 15 hours of go-go-go.
Uber and its imitators like Lyft changed that up in the early 2010s. Suddenly instead of using 50 year old technology to dispatch 20 year old cars, I could hail a ride in a near-new car using my smartphone. And it was half the price of a taxi. And I could pay with a credit card without arguing. Driving to the airport and parking became a rarity.
Over time Lyft and Uber have become more expensive. A ride between my house and SJC now runs around $30 normally with surge pricing of $50+ at peak times and late evenings. SFO is $50-60 normally, $80+ on surges. And that's before tip. Ten years ago tipping was not a thing with Uber and Lyft. They added that in, and we users accepted it, because they were screwing their drivers and we felt sympathetic. Bottom line, Uber/Lyft prices have increased to the point that driving and parking is attractive again, on shorter trips.
I did a quick cost comparison ahead of my day trip to Phoenix yesterday. I realized I could park in the hourly lot for probably half the price of two Lyft/Uber rides. Unlike the long-term lot or an offsite lot, which requires those infuriating shuttle rides, the hourly lot is seriously convenient to the terminal.
The photo above shows where I parked (black SUV on the right) relative to the terminal (straight ahead). It was just a few minutes' walk to the terminal door. That totally beats the old rigamarole of the long-term lot with waiting up to 20 minutes each way for a shuttle bus and then shuttling miles at low speed.
Edited to add: Driving and parking also gave me certainty about my schedule. There were no doubts about how long it would take a ride share to arrive of if the driver would cancel. One of my colleagues scheduled an Uber for 5:30am the night before- and the driver simply didn't show. 😨 He had to hail another ride after giving up, then that driver canceled and another was assigned. The net result was he got to the airport 30 minutes later than expected and arrived at the boarding gate only 2 minutes before boarding began. What bullshit! I am so glad I wasn't playing that game.
On the way home last night I was pleased all over again with how convenient and cost-effective the arrangement was. During the flight I made arrangements via text to meet Hawk for dinner- but the dinner date needed to be timely because it was already getting late. The plane docked at the gate at 7:20pm, I was in the terminal by 7:25, minutes later I was riding the escalator down past baggage claim, and....
BAM! I could literally see my car from the escalator down into the arrivals hall. No waiting 20 minutes for a shuttle bus that drives slowly to a remote parking lot. No waiting 10 minutes for a Lyft that says "4 minutes away" for 6 minutes. For amusement I timed my walk from the terminal door to my car door. 1 minute 52 seconds. 💥
Less than 15 minutes later I met Hawk at a favorite local pizzeria, Giovanni's. I arrived just as she was getting out of the car. A delicious meal together was a great way to wind down a day that had already been 15 hours of go-go-go.