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Jun 14, 2023

Lambert airport commission OKs hike in parking charges

A car enters Lot A on Tuesday, May 2, 2023, at St. Louis Lambert International

A car enters Lot A on Tuesday, May 2, 2023, at St. Louis Lambert International Airport. Lambert officials have approved increased parking rates for airport lots and garages.

ST. LOUIS — Starting Aug. 1, drivers will pay more to park in St. Louis Lambert International Airport's lots and garages under a plan approved Wednesday.

The decision by the city Airport Commission will hike the per-day fee at five airport-owned lots by $1 to $3 a day, depending on the lot. The all-day rates at Lambert's two garages will go up by $2 or $3.

Airport Director Rhonda Hamm-Niebruegge said in an interview that the increases, the first in 10 years, are based on what is now charged by privately-owned lots and garages located nearby off airport property.

"It has been a long time," she said.

She also said many other airports around the country have raised parking rates in recent years.

The increases would help Lambert deal with inflationary rises in what the airport has to buy, such as new vehicles, fuel and maintenance cost, she said.

The cheapest daily parking rate, at lot D on the western end of the airport, will increase to $9 from $7.

The most expensive daily lot rates will continue to be at Lot E, near Terminal 2 on the eastern end. There the charge for parking between 6 and 24 hours will be $23, up from the current $20.

Parking in Lambert's Terminal 1 garage will go to $25 for 12 to 24 hours from the current $23. The 12-to-24 hour rate in the Terminal 2 garage goes to $26 from $23.

The plan also calls for hikes in fees for some shorter time periods. But the current $5 charge for up to two hours in the garages and one lot, E, won't change.

The resolution passed by the commission on Wednesday also gives Hamm-Niebruegge the authority to eventually institute so-called dynamic pricing at some lots and garages.

Under such a system, the parking fee would be more expensive at times when spots are in high demand. Or the fee could be made lower at times when there are more available spaces than usual.

The commission also gave the director authority to allow travelers to go online to reserve a spot in a garage or lot if they pay a higher price.

But dynamic or reservation pricing will be allowed only if the prices aren't more than 50% higher than the basic hourly rate for a garage or lot.

Hamm-Niebruegge said, however, that nothing is imminent on that front. She said she would be surprised if she and her staff even do detailed research on dynamic or reservation pricing for the next year.

In any event, she said, she will brief the commission before going to such a pricing model. "We may never go to them" with a proposal, she added.

The commission also voted Wednesday to require newly hired airport police officers to pay back some of the approximate $6,200 cost of their police academy training if they leave the Lambert department within three years for another law enforcement agency.

Ron Stella, a deputy airport director, said over the past five years, 31 of 36 people hired to fill airport police vacancies had resigned shortly thereafter for various reasons. He said Lambert had paid $200,000 for their training.

The city Board of Aldermen also has to approve that change. The board already has passed a similar measure applying to the city police department.

Airport management, as it has for several months, refused to publicly release background information for the various items listed on the commission's agenda in advance of its Wednesday meeting.

The information was released at the start of the meeting. The parking rate proposal was the same one disclosed at the panel's last meeting May 3.

The change in what Lambert releases in advance of meetings came after the Post-Dispatch last November reported that the commission would be considering extending a major contract to operate airport eateries without first soliciting competitive bids.

Take a look at some of the video highlights of 2022 from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch staff.

Post-Dispatch business reporters bring you insights into the latest news in the St. Louis business community.

Mark Schlinkmann is a reporter for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

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