LAX-it is the name of the Los Angeles International Airport’s method for managing taxi and ride share traffic for travelers leaving the airport. If you live here, you are supposed to complain about it. I am here to defend it.

LAX-it refers to the relegation of taxis and ride share vehicles to a surface parking lot just east of Terminal 1. Before, riders met their ride at the curb of their terminal. Now, all taxi and ride share pick-up occurs at a centralized lot. Because of LAX’s severe n-shape, the LAX-it lot can be up to .7 miles away (Terminal 4), a 17 minute walk, or as close as .2 miles (Terminals 1 and 7). Only private vehicles, chauffeur services, and buses can pick up curbside.

To complain about LAX-it is it forget or be ignorant of leaving LAX before the LAX-it system. I do not know what percentage of traffic is due to taxi and rideshare, but it is a very large number. Before LAX-it, it was common to wait 15-45′ for your car to get to you, such was the traffic. Now, a significant percentage of that traffic is gone: the traffic into the LAX-it pickup lot is separated from the traffic into the terminals, so taxis and ride share vehicles as well as curbside vehicles face much less traffic. The arrival time of vehicles is much more predictable because traffic is significantly decreased.

It is very easy to get to LAX-it. The assumed way to get to the LAX-it lot is via frequently arriving buses. That way is frustrating, as buses can arrive full or not as frequently as they should. The problem is solved bipedally. The LAX-it lot is never more than .7 miles from a terminal’s curb, and that longest distance is if you fly American, which you shouldn’t do anyway. In other words, people should walk to the LAX-it lot. After sitting cooped up in a pressurized, dry steel tube, there is nothing more refreshing than stretching your legs with the ocean breeze in your nostrils.

I cannot recall an airport that has not segregated ride share pickups. Many pickups are not as far of a walk, but that is because most airports are not as large as LAX. You can’t live in a big city and have small city amenities.

So, the LAX-it lot is close and makes the time to get there as well as the time for vehicles to get to the terminals’ curbs more predictable. LAX is too compact, yes, which is why LAX-it is great: it removes a lot of pressure from the terminals without making the taxi and ride share experience worse for riders. No system is perfect, but this one is pretty good.