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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Wednesday, December 17, 2003

Airport trips pay off for firms

By Mike Leidemann
Advertiser Staff Writer

When Maddie and Gordon Morikawa went to Las Vegas last week, they didn't want to ask family or friends to take them to the airport and they didn't want to risk leaving their car in an airport parking structure.

Propark shuttle driver Laurence Caday, center, assists passengers including Gordon, left, and Maddie Morikawa at Propark's base at the former Costco in Salt Lake.

Richard Ambo • The Honolulu Advertiser

Instead, they left the driving to someone else, a park-and-ride shuttle service in Salt Lake.

The Morikawas are part of a slowly growing group in Hawai'i who are finding there's a better way of getting to the airport than asking Uncle Tommy for a lift or driving themselves.

Taxis, park-and-rides, shuttles and airport express services have increased in popularity in recent years, operators and users say. They can prove especially useful in busy times like the upcoming holiday period or in off-peak hours, like when you have to be at the terminal two hours before that 6:30 a.m. flight.

"We use this place every time we travel," Maddie Morikawa said Friday after the shuttle driver dropped her off by Propark's Salt Lake long-term parking facility in the former Costco lot after a brief trip to Las Vegas to see the national rodeo finals.

Morikawa said it's cheaper and they don't have to inconvenience people for rides.

Propark charges $6 a day for most cars and provides 24-hour security and shuttle service to the airport, about 10 minutes away. That easily beats the $10 a day AMPCO charges to park in the structures next to the airport terminal, Morikawa said.

Although long-term, off-site parking facilities are familiar at many Mainland airports, they're relatively new in Hawai'i. Propark started the first one on Paiea Street several years ago and moved to its Salt Lake site last month, said area manager Jay Ulmer.

Its lot was about half full on a recent weekday and business has been growing as old customers find the new location, he said.

The increase mirrors what's happening in other airport transportation areas, including a strong growth in the number of airport shuttle and express services.

"When I started nine years ago, there wasn't anyone doing this. Now there are several dozen," said Hal Josephson, owner and operator of Hawai'i Kai Airport Shuttle. He has four or five competitors serving the Hawai'i Kai area alone.

Josephson says he averages four or five runs a day between the airport and Hawai'i Kai, charging about $33 for up to four people, which he says is about 20 percent less than a taxi ride for the same distance.

"A lot of people have started doing the arithmetic. They don't want to pay $10 a day to leave their car in the airport, and they don't want to leave it out in the open."

The majority of the rides call for early morning departures or late-night arrivals, times when friends don't like to impose on friends for the traditional lift to the airport, he said.

"That just doesn't work so well anymore," added Alan Weislin, owner of Leeward AAA Hui/Airport Express. "Amateur travelers will always rely on friends or relatives, but they don't always know how to monitor flights which can be rescheduled or delayed. And business travelers can't keep asking the same people over and over."

Weislin said several shuttle companies, which pick up more than one group at different spots along the way, have sprung up in recent years, but the older express services continue to do well because they provide non-stop curb-to-curb service. Rates for up to four people are $24 from Waikele and Waipi'o, $33 from Makakilo and on up for those long rides out to Nanakuli and Makaha.

And for those who like to fly first class, it's also possible to get a top-of-the-line lift to the airport. Several limousine companies say their cars can be hired for as little as two-hour periods; rates begin at about $60 per hour.

If you like to drive and park, however, the state Transportation Department suggests leaving a little extra time during the holidays, especially between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., when the parking areas are most full.

Although there are no recorded cases of all 4,142 parking spaces being used at the same time, there are certain areas that fill up more quickly, said DOT spokesman Scott Ishikawa.

"The parking outside the interisland terminal, which has 1,787 spaces, can be full, especially when there is heavy travel on the weekend," Ishikawa said.

Airport officials recommend that drivers head straight to the parking area outside the overseas terminal, or to one of the smaller outdoor lots on either side of it, he said.

Ishikawa also said that the airlines have begun vigorously enforcing a rule that limits checked bags to 50 pounds each. That has created some extra delays at check-in counters as passengers switch some holiday gifts or other material to their carry-on luggage, which in turn creates more delays at security check-points.

"We'd like to tell people to lighten their load a little bit," he said.

Reach Mike Leidemann at mleidemann@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-5460.


Correction: The airlines, not the Transportation Security Administration, have begun enforcing a rule that limits checked bags to 50 pounds each. A previous version of this story was incorrect.