SuperShuttle is going out of business. What it means for South Florida’s major airports
For more than 35 years, SuperShuttle, the shared van service with the blue and yellow color design, has been a familiar sight at airport terminals nationally and internationally and on our roadways.
But that’s about to end by Dec. 31, The Los Angeles Times reported first.
The ride service, founded in 1983, initially to whisk passengers to and from Los Angeles International Airport before expanding services worldwide, is going out of business this month.
But passengers in South Florida might not feel the loss as much as other major cities.
The impact to MIA, FLL
“Since the local operation is run by a franchisee (American Shuttle), MIA will still have the shuttle service,” said Greg Chin, spokesman for Miami International Airport. “That’s good for us. Looks like other cities won’t fare as well, but that’s the ride-share effect.”
Things aren’t as clear at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, said spokesman Greg Meyer.
“SuperShuttle does not have a contract with FLL and we have not been notified that they will stop serving their customers for our airport. We work with Go Airport Shuttle, the local cab providers, A-1-A limo, Uber, Lyft and a host of others,” Meyer said.
Book rides in advance
One of the pluses about using SuperShuttle was the ability to book rides in advance and the company would schedule an arrival time a couple hours before flight time. This was designed to get you through traffic to the airport in time to check in or, for international flights, go through customs, which takes longer than domestic flight protocols.
But Uber and Lyft customers can also book rides in advance, the ride-share companies advertise.
On the Lyft app, for instance, you can book ahead by clicking on “Schedule” on the ride mode selection screen and filling in your time and day.
Uber, too, offers a ride schedule feature where you can set the pickup time from 5 minutes to 30 days in advance by selecting the Schedule option that is just to the right of the Where To? bar in the app.
Losing business to ride-share competition
SuperShuttle, which takes passengers to and from airports across the U.S., Latin America, Canada, Europe and Asia, lost too much business to competitors like Uber and Lyft drivers.
A letter obtained by the Los Angeles Times from the company to a Los Angeles-area franchisee says: “SuperShuttle plans to honor all reservations and walk-up requests for service” through Dec. 31, the Associated Press reported.
The mobile phone SuperShuttle has not been updated to reflect any of these pending changes.
The company’s Twitter page was still responding to passengers who had tweeted at the company that it “hoped to see you traveling with us again soon.”
But the SuperShuttle Twitter feed has gone radio silent since Dec. 8.
In recent weeks, SuperShuttle has pulled out of airports serving many cities, including Phoenix, Baltimore and Minneapolis, the Times reported.
USA Today reported that SuperShuttle general manager Alan Gildersleeve, in an email to Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport officials in suburban Phoenix, wrote, “Unfortunately, our parent company has decided to cease SuperShuttle and ExecuCar operations nationwide effective 12/31 so we will not be continuing our service agreement into 2020.’‘
