LAX: Driving versus shuttle

Yeah, it's a mundane question for which I should have a confirmed answer by now...but, rates and issues continually change, so I thought maybe I can get some input from others here--I'm sure we've all worked out this problem in our own minds from time to time.

First, I know that everyone has different preferences for different reasons.

For me, convenience has usually been a driving factor in the past...however, now that I'm retired, price seems to figure more into the equation.

We have two cruises coming up in the next month and a half. For the first, we will be gone 8 days--leaving LAX at 8:00 pm June 11, returning Friday, June 19, 4:00 pm. For the second, we depart July 1/2 Midnight, return July 13/14 Midnight...so, figure 13 days...

For a long time, for convenience sake, we would have taken a limo or towncar...Execucar Express fare is $158 round trip...add 15% tip and round up and it's $182...

Super shuttle shared shuttle round trip for two is $116, add a tip and round up and call it $134...

Road Runner Shuttle, who, for various reasons, we typically use, is $120 round trip...add the tip and it's $138...

The Parking Spot has a coupon online for $12.95 per day or $89.95 per week for uncovered parking...so, for the 8 day trip, that would come to (including the $1.05 airport fee and the 10% tax) ... $114.35...Figuring in a 60 mile round trip to LAX, let's add another $10 for gas (not even going to factor in maintenance, wear & tear, etc.)...and then, round up...So, $125...

For the second cruise, figure $185.57 including fees and taxes plus $10 plus rounding for gas...and it's $196...

So, clearly, for the second cruise, driving ourselves and parking makes no sense as we can beat the cost with even the execucar...and an exclusive car may take a few minutes wait for the pickup upon return, but saves us the shuttle to the parking garage...So, for that one, it's just a question of shuttle versus towncar...$138 (I'll get to why that and not $134 in a moment) versus $182...

With a $4 difference between SuperShuttle and Roadrunner, the benefit for us with Roadrunner is that we are on the near edge of their traditional service area--which has always meant we are the last picked up and the first dropped off--unlike with SuperShuttle where we may end up making several out-of-the-way stops in both directions--well worth an extra $4...

For that first cruise next month, to simplify it, it's:

$125--drive and park ourselves

$138--Roadrunner shared shuttle

$182--Execucar Express

My thoughts:

Driving ourselves costs the least and we have the convenience of being able to stop for early dinner before going to the airport and stop if we want for dinner or whatever on our way home ...but we also have to park our car exposed outside for 8 days...and we have to deal with the frustrations of driving through LA rush hour traffic in both directions on a Thursday and Friday afternoon...

Taking Execucar costs the most (by $44 over Roadrunner) and we save the chance of having to wait at LAX on the way home to pick up others. My wife doesn't think it's worth the extra $44...She says we can buy dinner with that...

Roadrunner is the mid-price...but we don't drive and my car stays safely at home in the garage...

So, what does everyone else here think?

Don't know where you are starting from to get to LAX but, take a look at the FlyAway bus service.

http://www.lawa.org/flyaway/default.aspx

Frequent, stops at all terminals and parking tends to be pretty reasonable. Union Station, for example, is $6 per day with a 30 maximum. We use that for our long distance Amtrak trips.

It's been several years since our last flight (we took Amtrak up the coast for our Alaskan cruise in 2004), but we used our ancient van (usually hubby just uses it without us as it only seats two) and left it at the Van Nuys flyaway, and took their bus to LAX. I guess the next time we fly anywhere, we'll have to price out the options.

Whether we took one of our cars or another source of transportation, we always park a car on our driveway to try to give the appearance of someone being home.

The Flyaway bus thing is definitely cheap--as far as price goes...

It's $8 per person from Van Nuys and long term parking at Van Nuys Airport is only $4 a day...

So, for 8 days, it would be a total of $48 plus whatever tip one would give to the bus driver...Let's say he helps with getting the luggage loaded and unloaded, a $5 might be appropriate...So...a total of $53...

However, convenience is still part of the equation here...

The bus leaves Van Nuys approximately once every half hour (it varies, but that's a good mark) and it takes, supposedly, 50 minutes to make the trip from Van Nuys to LAX...add ten minutes for loading/unloading, call it an hour...but--there's an asterisk for traffic--as in "it could take longer"...So, since we're talking about prime rush hour here--trying to get to LAX by 6:00 pm for an 8:00 pm flight on a Thursday...and arriving back at LAX at around 4:00 pm on a Friday...Let's call it an hour and a half...

Getting from home in Calabasas to Van Nuys in those time frames could take around 45 minutes...add a little time to unload the car and wheel everything to the bus pick-up, call it an hour...

So, reasonably, we're talking about 2.5 hours plus each way (plus gas--say $5 round trip, dealing with some traffic and leaving our car exposed in a public parking lot for 8 days)...

I guess that's worth it to some...but, I'm not sure. It's an extra $80 round trip for door-to-door service...no stops or transfers and saving a good hour of time each way. I guess it makes more sense comparing it to parking at LAX--You are driving to a parking lot and taking a bus to the terminal either way--it's just a longer shuttle bus, I guess...

It's a lesser of all evils type of thing.

Choose for convenience.

Another option is Uber. Here's what their fare estimator shows for 1-way from Calabasas to LAX:

uberX $32-43

uberXL $67-89

uberPLUS $84-112

UberBLACK $121-160

UberSUV $151-196

UberLUX $178-232

(Add $7 for the return fare to cover a fee imposed by LAX). Sounds like uberX is fine for your situation of 2 people + reasonable luggage. As you commented, you can get a high-end ride or even a limo at higher cost (and then Execucar may be the better value).

Last year we weighed the option of renting a car 1 way, since our flight home after the cruise was to our home city and the shuttle to LAX. Figuring cost of car rental gas, for the convenience and letting someone else deal with LA traffic, we chose the shuttle $215 for a 2.5 hr drive door to door to LAX. We actually got there in 2 hours.