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Airport News, "Complaints Scuttle Pittsburgh Airport Shuttle Island"
October 24, 1999
Complaints Scuttle Pittsburgh Airport Shuttle Island
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Pennsylvania
Oct. 24--If you were an airline passenger arriving at Pittsburgh
International Airport this month, you may have had to tote your luggage
across four lanes of traffic and stand on a narrow, dimly lit, overcrowded
traffic island to wait for a private parking lot shuttle or a courtesy van
to a hotel.
If you were unlucky enough to arrive a couple of weeks ago on the night when
a multiple-murder suspect was being brought in for questioning, you would
have been shooed to the side by county police heading in to their airport
station.
But a storm of passenger and business protests has prompted the County
Aviation Department to rescind changes that went into effect Oct. 1 on the
lower-level, "arrivals" area of the airport.
Courtesy vehicles last week returned to pick up people along the main
terminal curb again, opposite the US Airways baggage claim area B carousel.
A second shuttle pickup zone was established outside the baggage claim area
for other airlines.
County Aviation Director Kent George said that changes along the "
commercial curbs" used by taxis and buses as well as shuttles and vans were
explained in a letter and a meeting months earlier. He said airport
transportation licensees did not object until the changes went into effect.
"We told them, if the changes don't work, we'll change them back," he said.
"We're not autocratic. We intend to work with our tenants and passengers,
and do what's best for everyone."
Changing back to the system in effect since Midfield Terminal opened seven
years ago brought sighs of relief and expressions of gratitude.
"At least they recognized the error of their ways," said Charlie Brown,
owner of Charlie Brown's Park 'n Shuttle on Flaugherty Run Road in Moon.
"What they did [Oct. 1] made the situation inconvenient and unsafe for
everyone."
Louie Blanc, manager of the Courtyard by Marriott and president of the
Airport Area Chamber of Commerce, along with Brown and two other chamber
members, met with George two weeks ago to point out the problem and to
express their displeasure.
Brown brought along petitions that hundreds of passengers signed at his
parking shuttle business office.
"You couldn't believe the complaints we heard," said Bill McKnight, Charlie
Brown's manager. "We don't know anybody who was happy. I have to give them
credit for changing it back, though."
Foster S. Goldman Jr., a Downtown lawyer, said he was shocked to see the
curbside shuttle pickup zone changed from just outside the exit doors when
he and his wife returned from a vacation this month. He said the old zone
was one of the passenger-friendly features of the airport.
"People who are elderly, infirm or disabled ... could wait inside, by a
window, where it was warm, until someone waved to them to come out," he said
before the county rescinded the change. "Imagine how families, leading or
carrying several small children, and juggling countless items of checked and
carry-on baggage, will now have to make this excursion."
A county police officer, who asked that his name not be published, predicted
there would have been "chaos" at Thanksgiving, the busiest time of the year
at the airport, if the aviation department had not relented.
Another officer, who saw a boy dart into the path of a parking lot shuttle
whose driver slammed the brake pedal in time, described the Oct. 1 change as
"a solution in search of a problem."
George said the airport started studying improvements to passenger
convenience about eight months ago.
He said invitations were sent to 200 businesses licensed to operate at the
airport about proposals, which were discussed at a 2 1/2-hour meeting in
July. At the end of August, letters were sent announcing changes that would
be implemented Oct. 1.
"Lo and behold, we started getting phone calls Sept. 28 from the courtesy
vehicle operators, saying we don't like them," George said. "I asked them,
'Where were you in July?' But I told them we'll work with them, and if
there's a better way to do it, we will."
While the courtesy vehicle pickups returned to their former curb, the issue
isn't necessarily settled.
George said the county would spend the next eight months revisiting the
subject of making changes. But he conceded that if the pickup zone changes
again, the county will have to make physical modifications including better
lighting and an expanded traffic island.
The next time, he said he hopes that people show up at meetings when airport
officials invite them.
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To see more of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, or to subscribe to the
newspaper, go to http://www.post-gazette.com
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