RSG121: Blair Schlecter on LAX’s New Ride-hail Pickup Policy

Today, I’ll be talking with Blair Schlecter, my coauthor on a recent public policy report on ridehailing at LAX. We’ll talk about what caused us to write this report, why it’s important, and what this issue will mean for airports and the country in the future.

If you’d like to read a transcript of this podcast, please click here.

Blair Schlecter

Intro

  • Today I’m talking with Blair Schlecter, Vice President of Economic Development and Government Affairs for the Beverly Hills Chamber of Commerce
  • Will be talking about the report we co-wrote
  • Make sure to check out my interview with Tom Mourmouras
  • CoMotion in Miami this year!

Intro to Blair Schlecter

  • VP of Econ Dev and Government Affairs for the Beverly Hills Chamber of Commerce
  • Spoken and written about transportation policy and innovation
  • Impact of new tech on society
  • Favorite mode of transit: subway

Congestion at the Curb Beginnings

  • Analyzes ridesharing at LAX and provided recommendations to optimize the TNC system at airports
  • LAX one of the first airports to take rideshare off site
  • A lot of negative attention – could there be a better way?
  • Report is an analysis of LAXit and provides recommendations for other airports to learn from

Importance of Congestion at the Curb

  • Airports are in their own world and not necessarily always communicating with TNCs
  • Airports are beginning to manage their curbs more strictly, so what’s the best way to do it?
  • TNCs and airports aren’t sharing data right now – report recommends increased data sharing between them
  • Airport folks good at their jobs – they just need to tools and ability to make connections and get more info

Gathering Data for the Report

  • A lot of important constituents, needed to balance their goals and perspectives
  • Talked to officials from LAX, people in higher education and TNC sectors
  • Provided insights for all stakeholders that they didn’t originally have
  • Learned that transition periods matter a lot, too

Takeaways for Cities, Regulators, Airports

  • Combine tech with policy discussions
  • Use services like rematch to make that happen
  • Pricing the curb – some people will always want to be picked up curbside. Pricing can and should reflect that
  • Dynamic pricing
  • This is only the starting point for all the issues facing airports in the future

Outro

  • Big thanks to Blair for coming on the episode! Hopefully we’ll hear from him again when we release our next report!
  • Right now I’m looking at writing 4-5 reports in the future – have a lot of information and data to back up what we’re researchig and reports like this are fascinating to me

Show Notes