Some options include the Caltrain commuter rail or SamTrans bus, to the airport. Shared-ride vans services are also available.
Free SFO buses
In there is a BART strike, SFO will operate free buses between the airport BART station and the Millbrae Caltrain center and between the airport and the South San Francisco (Oyster Point) ferryboat terminal.
Kiss & Fly; Cell Phone Lot
If you are getting picked up or dropped off at the airport by friends or family, consider using the Kiss-and-Fly option at the rental car facility. From there you can catch the AirTrain to the airport. SFO also has a free cell-phone parking lot, which is located next to the Long Term Parking surface lot five minutes north of the terminals.
SFO has asked taxi, van and bus companies to prepare for increased demand. And although the airport’s cease-and-desist order to ridesharing companies such as Sidecar and Uber are still in effect, those companies are ready for increased demand as well.
Oakland International Airport normally operates an AirBART Shuttle Service to transport passengers between the airport and the Coliseum BART station, but that service is canceled due to strike, said OAK Airport spokesperson Kim Domerofski. To help out, the airport has requested that additional ground transportation providers operate at OAK and on Monday the airport estimated that approximately 50% more taxis, shuttles and limos than usual were available to transport travelers.
More information about what’s happening with BART can be found at www.511.org.
April 8th is opening day for the PHX Sky Train, which will offer travelers free rides between Terminal 4 (which serves 80% of Sky Harbor’s passengers), the East Economy parking lot and the METRO light rail at 44th Street and Washington.
Trains will arrive and depart every three to four minutes.
The electrically-powered, automated train will operate year-round, 24-hours a day and PHX has added some thoughtful amenities to the PHX Sky Train stations, including boarding pass kiosks and pet parks.
Early Bag Check, available at East Economy parking since December, will also open at the 44th Street Station on April 8 and allow travelers flying Southwest or US Airways to check their bags at the station for no additional cost.
The airport’s year-round Music in the Air program, now offers 23 live weekly music performances in six different venues inside the airport, with a special series of concerts lined up during the SXSW music conference, March 12-17.
If you’re heading into town from the airport, you have several transportation options: there are taxis and rental cars, of course, including the all-Audi A4 Silvercar service, but the Airport Flyer bus runs into town every 40 minutes for a fare of just $2.
And once in town, your options for getting around are quite varied. The festival will be running a complimentary bike sharing program for event registrants and will have shuttles running between many venues.
There will also be some interesting free and shared car services operating during the festival, including the free “Catch a Chevy” service, SideCar (the ride-sharing program is determined to operate despite the city’s cease and desist order), and (according to this WSJ story) Tagged.com, a social networking site, will be offering free limo rides from the airport to destinations within 30 miles of downtown Austin.
Getting ready for Thanksgiving travel? Here a few things that may help.
The folks at Shairporter – a new cab-sharing social platform – is promoting its New York City launch by giving away free cab rides on November 21 to New Yorkers traveling to the airport who register their ride through the Shairporter platform.
If you’re traveling through the Miami International Airport on Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday, November 19-21 or on Saturday and Sunday, November 24th and 25th, you’ll find activities underway that include a DJ, Pilgrim and Indian greeters, a kids craft station, a stilt-walking scarecrow, giveaways and a harvest background for taking photos. Here’s a link to the list of events and a sheet of coupons for the shops and restaurants.
And if you’re at Indianapolis International Airport on Saturday, November 24th, keep an eye out for Santa. He’ll be arriving on a giant fire and rescue truck (the reindeer only work on Christmas Eve) and once in the terminal, he’ll be hanging around the pre-security Civic Plaza from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m. overseeing activities that include taking pictures with kids, holiday decoration-making stations, and photos and autograph opportunities with the Indianapolis Pacers Pacemates and Rowdie Claus from the Indianapolis Indians
Want a free ride to town from the airport? In Boston this summer, you’ll get your wish.
In what is apparently a first for a North American airport, Boston Logan International is waiving the $2 fare for all passengers who ride the inbound Silver Line bus from the airport to South Station in downtown Boston. From there, the transfer to the subway – known as the “T” – is free.
The clean-fuel Silver Line buses have been in operation since 2005, have room for luggage and make the trip in from the airport in 20-40 minutes (depending on which terminal you board at), a bit longer than it takes to drive.
The 90-day, free-ride pilot program, called “On Us,” should be a hit with many of the city’s summer visitors, who might otherwise pay $25 or more for a cab ride into the city. But a major goal of the program is to convince locals to switch to the bus and stop paying to park their cars in the airport’s central garage.
At first glance, that part of the program seems a bit counter-intuitive. “Parking is a critical revenue source for North American airports,” said Debby McElroy of Airports Council International-North America (ACI-NA), an airport trade group. In fact, according to the organization’s 2011 Airport Concessions Benchmarking Survey, parking accounts for 42% of non-aeronautical revenue at airports. “These funds allow airports to modernize facilities, which ultimately benefits travelers,” said McElroy.
So why would Logan Airport decide to spend close to $300,000 to subsidize free bus rides for three months and encourage customers to leave their cars – and their cash – at home?
The answer is space, and not enough of it.
Sprawling airports in Denver and Dallas/Fort Worth sit on vast tracts of land beyond or between urban centers, but Logan has a very small footprint – just 1,700 acres – and is only three miles from downtown Boston. And while the airport’s passenger numbers keep growing (BOS expects to serve close to 30 million passengers this year), due to a regulatory cap limiting commercial parking, space at the airport’s central garages cannot.
The bottom line, is that “Logan cannot build new garages to meet demand,” David S. Mackey, Massport’s Interim CEO & Executive Director said in a statement. (Massport, the Massachusetts Port Authority, owns and operates Boston Logan Airport).
Instead, Logan has been trying to wean passengers from driving to the airport. In March, the daily parking rate in the central garage was raised $3, to $27. At the same time, the daily parking rate at Massport’s suburban lots was lowered to $7, down $4.
The Silver Line “On Us,” pilot program is the next step in that weaning. As part of the effort to reduce curb congestion and bulk up high occupancy vehicle (HOV) usage, the airport has hired and placed extra staff outside the terminals to explain the program to passengers. “We’re collecting information and counting the boardings and the loads at the bus stops at each terminal,” said Carl Leiner, Massport’s deputy director of economic planning and development. “There are people with stop watches calculating the dwell times, which is the amount of time people spend waiting for the bus.”
While no other airports are jumping to match Logan’s free-ride offer just yet, many are watching closely.
“We applaud Logan’s efforts and the fact their parking is full,” said Perry Cooper, spokesperson for Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, which has a 13,000-space parking garage. “We have not reached a point where we are filling our garage regularly. However, we have been working to encourage light rail use with discount parking offers for sporting events to relieve the traffic and parking problems downtown.”
With 25,000 parking spaces on property, Los Angeles International Airport doesn’t have a parking problem either, but, as part of a longstanding emissions reduction program, it does operate express “FlyAway” shuttle buses to Van Nuys and Union Station (Fare: $7), Westwood (Fare: $10) and Irvine Station (Fare $25).
Miami International Airport (MIA) isn’t reporting a parking crunch either. But while “a good portion” of airport revenue does come from parking fees, airport spokesperson Marc Henderson says the airport is delighted that, since it began operating in December 2010, more than a million people have used the Airport Flyer Express bus that goes to Miami Beach and downtown Miami. The bus has luggage racks, free Wi-Fi and makes the trip in 35 minutes.
“It’s a good way to get people down to the beach who may not want to rent a vehicle and deal with parking,” said MIA spokesperson Marc Henderson. “At $2.35 each way, the service is inexpensive. And it’s done well,” he said.
The 90-day, free-ride pilot program, called ‘On Us,’ should be a hit with many of the city?s summer visitors, who might otherwise pay $25 or more for a cab ride into the city.
Moving people out of cars at the airport can be a challenge. While there is a local bus route in Houston that serves the George Bush Intercontinental Airport, in August 2011, the Metropolitan Transit Authority decided to cancel express bus service to the airport “because of low passenger numbers,” said airport spokesperson Darian Ward.
Back in Boston, airport spokesperson Matthew Brelis says while “no determination has yet been made,” passengers may find that the free bus rides from Logan into town extend past the 90-day test period. Brelis says that “improving curbside traffic flow and reducing parking congestion” is the main reason the airport is offering the free rides, but “if passengers are thrilled with the service and delighted that it’s free, it’s icing on the cake.”
