Article published October 31, 2006
DETROIT METROPOLITAN-WAYNE COUNTY AIRPORT
Cell-phone lane speeds pickup of travelers
By DAVID PATCH
BLADE STAFF WRITER
Airplanes may have to circle above Detroit Metropolitan-Wayne County Airport from time to time, but people picking up arriving passengers at one of Metro's terminals no longer need to, as long as they and their riders have cell phones.
The Wayne County Airport Authority yesterday posted signs designating a stretch of the Arrivals roadway at the Smith Terminal as a Cell Phone Waiting Lane, where drivers may pull over and wait for a call from the party they're picking up instructing them to pull up to the terminal's curb-front.
Mike Conway, an airport spokesman, said creating the phone zone should cut down on the number of vehicles circling the Smith Terminal access road while their drivers wait for arriving passengers to emerge from Baggage Claim. It also should reduce the regularity with which airport police must shoo standing vehicles away from the terminal curb-front, which is designated for active loading or unloading only.
"Some people simply aren't going to pay for short-term parking when they're just picking someone up at the curb," Mr. Conway said.
"That sounds like it might work. If they [arriving passengers] are waiting at the curb, it would be helpful," Richard Schroeder, of Maumee, said yesterday after hearing an explanation of the Cell Phone Waiting Lane.
Mr. Schroeder said he usually parks in the Short Term lot now when picking up travelers at Metro, and will continue to do so if the party he's meeting needs help with baggage.
| WHAT IT MEANS |
A stretch of the Arrivals roadway at the Smith Terminal has been designated as a Cell Phone Waiting Lane.
That’s where drivers may pull over and wait for a call from the party they’re picking up. When they get the call, they’ll be instructed to pull up to the terminal’s curb-front. |
|
|
The airport's announcement included the caveat that vehicles using the Cell Phone Waiting Lane must remain occupied. While the phone zone is not in a safety hazard area, Mr. Conway said, allowing motorists to park there would rob business from the pay lots and diminish the zone's usefulness for its intended purpose.
Some motorists already were using what was essentially an empty lane on the Smith Terminal road across from the former location of the Davey Terminal as an ad-hoc holding area before yesterday's announcement, the spokesman said.
Making it official cost the airport authority a few signs and a bit of paint to mark the space, which has room for about 30 vehicles, he said.
The establishment of cell-phone waiting areas is a growing trend among airports, especially large ones where curb-front congestion can be a major problem, Mr. Conway said. Other airports with phone zones include Midway and O'Hare International in Chicago, Baltimore-Washington, Houston, Denver, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, and, as of early last month, Grand Rapids, Mich.
Officials with the Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority, which operates Toledo Express Airport, could not be reached for comment yesterday about the likelihood of creating such a waiting zone at the local airport. Congestion at the Toledo Express curb-front is rare.
Successful phone zones are far enough from the terminal that drivers won't try to use them for parking, but close enough that they'll use them at all, Mr. Conway said.
Smith Terminal at Metro serves airlines like Delta, United, US Airways, AirTran, and Spirit whose Detroit business is overwhelmingly local passengers, unlike the heavy volume of connecting traffic at Northwest Airlines' hub in the newer McNamara Terminal.
Metro officials are reviewing possibilities for establishing a Cell Phone Waiting Lane for the McNamara, too, Mr. Conway said, but "nothing that's currently paved" is available so construction would be required.
"It's kind of hard to justify to the airlines that you're going to build something that doesn't generate revenue, but it solves a problem for us," the spokesman said.
A new North Terminal now under construction on the former Davey site is set to open in late 2008, after which the Smith Terminal is to be closed. A cell-phone waiting area is likely to be established for that facility, too, although no specific plan has been made, Mr. Conway said.
Contact David Patch at:
dpatch@theblade.com
or 419-724-6094.
Permanent Link
|
|
 |
|
Search
advertisement
