Airport Check-in
Roger Yu, USA TODAY, 5/7/2007 (excerpted)
DETROIT: Parking to go automated
Detroit Metro is automating parking payments.
The new system will allow parking lot customers to use their credit or debit card, and it involves no paper ticket. Travelers insert their cards into the lot's automated entry device, which electronically stores the entry date and time. At exit, they insert the same card for automatic billing. Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta has a similar system.
The airport will phase in the new system later this spring in its Green and Yellow lots. It will be in the Big Blue Deck by the end of the summer.
The airport will leave a few cashier's lanes open for customers who choose to use tickets and pay by cash.
BOSTON: Better parking for hybrids
Drivers of hybrid and alternative-fuel vehicles get preferred parking at Boston Logan. The airport has set aside about 100 parking spaces that are close to the elevators.
Preferred parking for environmentally friendly cars in the central garage will be located on Level 6 by the elevator and pedestrian walkways.
In the Terminal B garage, they are on the fourth level. The environmental programs are part of Massport's Earth Day celebration.
Taxi drivers with hybrid cars can also get in front of the line twice in a 12-hour shift. Taxi drivers typically wait 30 to 60 minutes in the taxi line. Since last year, the city has been trying to encourage operators to buy more hybrid or alternative-fuel cabs.
INDIANAPOLIS: Airport route to speed up
IndyGo, the public bus system in Indianapolis, announced last week a plan to launch an express route from downtown to Indianapolis International.
It will have fewer stops and run more often than the current route, which can take up to 40 minutes, spokeswoman Ronnetta Spalding says.
The express route will have just four stops and cost $7, compared with $1.50 in regular fare. The agency plans to launch the service in late summer or early fall.
MADRID: Metro stop for Terminal 4
Barajas International's new Terminal 4, which won the prestigious Stirling Prize last year for excellence in architecture and opened last year, now has its own Metro subway station, in addition to the one in Terminal 1.
The city expects more than 20,000 people daily to use the extended Metro line.
Travel from the airport to downtown takes about 20 minutes.
Along with London Heathrow, Madrid's is one of the few airports in the world with two Metro stations.