LAX consolidates hotel shuttle service: deploys natural gas transit

LAX consolidates hotel shuttle service:
deploys natural gas transit fleet.
“Already, we’ve taken tons of harmful emissions out of the air.”
More than 60 million people travel through Los Angeles
International Airport (LAX) each year, making it the third
busiest in the nation, fifth in the world.
Improved air quality — the reduction of vehicle-generated
pollutants and greenhouse gas emissions — is an objective
that’s top of mind with LAX leadership today.
The challenge? How to transport millions of people
traveling through LAX while:
• reining in traffic congestion,
• curtailing harmful emissions,
• reducing environmental impact on neighboring
communities,
• and assuring a quality experience for the traveling public
In response, LAX has mandated that all airport-franchised
shared ride operators must convert from diesel power to
clean-burning alternative fuel. This requirement includes
a call for the consolidation of hotel courtesy buses into a
single airport-run fleet.
Every year, more than 2 million passengers make use of
courtesy buses that were, until recently, operated individually by nine major hotels that line the Century Boulevard
gateway to LAX.
In Phase I of the new hotel courtesy bus program,
Destination Shuttle Services has contracted to consolidate
passenger bus systems run by individual hotels into a single
shared system that operates like a mini-city transit system.
DSS CEO Jack Lott says, “Our idea is based on fewer tailpipes traveling through the airport and using only vehicles
that are powered by clean-burning compressed natural gas
(CNG) fuel. We looked at all the alternative fuel options that
were open to us, and determined that CNG is the proven
solution for buses.”
To date, DSS has deployed a fleet of 19 brand new CNG
courtesy buses to transport hotel guests to and from airline
terminals, replacing 53 individual hotel vehicles in the process.
“We provide airport/hotel bus service at no less than
15-minute intervals. During peak periods, our buses
arrive every 5 to 7 minutes,” Lott explains. Each bus serves
two hotels on the Century Blvd. corridor. In hotel lobbies,
GPS-equipped kiosks visually show travelers the progress
of buses along their routes,
with up-to-the-minute ETA’s
prominently displayed.
“We’re transporting 190,000
passengers a month during the
first phase of this hotel consolidation effort,“ Lott reports.
So far, the hotel bus consolidation program has reduced
vehicle trips through the central terminal area by 55 percent,
and harmful emissions by 65 percent.
“Already, we’ve taken tons of harmful emissions out of
the air,” Lott says.
Phase II of the consolidation program will broaden the
program’s reach beyond the airport’s neighboring areas.
Ultimately, all 46 hotels operating bus service to LAX terminals will rely exclusively on this new natural gas-powered
transit fleet.
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