"Lauderdale airport growth pushes up cost of parking"

Saturday, September 16, 2000

Lauderdale airport growth pushes up cost of parking
By MICHAEL TURNBELL
The Sun-Sentinel (FL)


   The cost of parking is rising in concert with the continuing expansion at
Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.

   Starting Monday, the airport is raising the cost of the Park-N-Save lot
at 2225 SW 42nd St. from $3 to $5 a day.

   Officials say the $2 increase at what has been the airport's least
expensive parking site is necessary to help recover the $13,000 a year the
airport is losing to operate the 2,686-space lot off Griffin Road west of
Interstate 95.

   The number of public parking spaces in the lot shrank by 250 after Labor
Day to make room for airport employees forced to find another place to park
because of the airport construction.

   "We're sorry, but we've got to do it," said Jim Reynolds, the airport's
public information officer.

   The increased parking fee also will help cover the cost of five new
shuttles leased by the airport for $500,000 a year to take travelers between
the remote Park-N-Save lot and the terminals. The new, larger buses seat 26.
The 10 existing buses only have room for 16.

   Earlier this year, airport officials announced they planned to scale back
the south $5-a-day parking lot by 250 spaces in September and close it by
November, possibly before the Thanksgiving holiday travel crunch.

   Those plans are still on schedule.

   Although the airport added 4,900 spaces to its parking garage complex in
September, those spaces cost more than twice as much as the economy lots.
The loss of the 1,076-space, $5-a-day south lot means most travelers will
have to pay $12 a day to park.

   The Park-N-Save will be the cheapest option at $5 a day, but the lot
frequently fills up.

   Post your opinion on this story in the CAA Discussion Forum
http://www.californiaaviation.org/cgi-bin/dcforum/dcboard.cgi?conf=DCConfID8

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