51ºÚÁÏ

ST. LOUIS — Motorists would pay more to park at 51ºÚÁÏ Lambert International Airport’s lots and garages under a plan to be considered Wednesday by a city panel.

Under Lambert managers’ proposal to the Airport Commission, the increases would go into effect April 1.

The per-day fee at four of Lambert’s five lots would increase by $1. All-day rates at Lambert’s two garages would go up by $3.

The cheapest 24-hour parking rate, at lot D on the western end of the airport, would jump to $10, from $9.

The most expensive daily lot rates would continue to be at Lot E, near Terminal 2 on the eastern end. There the charge for parking between six and 24 hours would increase to $25, up from $23.

Airport Director Rhonda Hamm-Niebruegge said the increases, the second in the past two years, are aimed at keeping up with inflationary costs Lambert has been facing.

The last increase, in August 2023, had been the first in 10 years.

“It’s just the cost of operating garages and lots, the maintenance on them, the cost of shuttle buses,� she said in an interview Tuesday. The revenue from the garages and lots needs to keep pace, she said.

Parking in the Terminal 1 garage is slated to go to $28 for 12 to 24 hours from the current $25 fee. The 12-to-24-hour rate in the garage outside Terminal 2 would increase to $29, from $26.

The plan also calls for hikes in charges for some shorter time periods at various lots and garages. But the current $5 charge for two hours or less in the garages and one lot, E, would stay the same.

Turo car-sharing

Meanwhile, Hamm-Niebruegge said she will again hold off asking the commission to vote on a proposal to let an online car-sharing service use the Terminal 1 garage.

Some commission members in December had said a deal negotiated by Lambert and the online platform, Turo Inc., would be unfair to traditional car rental companies whose customers have to take shuttle buses to their off-site facilities.

Under the proposed contract, Turo customers would pick up vehicles they rent from private owners from the Terminal 1 garage or from three Lambert lots accessible by airport shuttles.

In return, Turo would pay Lambert 10% of gross revenues from rental transactions involving vehicle pick-ups and drop-offs at the airport.

Hamm-Niebruegge said airport staffers are continuing to research how other airports handle such platforms and that she expects to bring up the issue again at the next commission meeting in April.

She wouldn’t comment on whether the proposed contract would be altered but noted that “there was a lot of pushback� to the original version from commission members.

Security contract

The commission on Wednesday also will consider giving GardaWorld Security Services Inc. a new three-year, $38 million contract to provide security guards at the airport.

GardaWorld, which has held the security contract since 2020, was recommended by a city selection panel over five other companies that also submitted proposals. The new contract must be OK’d by the city’s main fiscal body, the Board of Estimate and Apportionment.

Service Employees International Union Local 1 has been pressing GardaWorld since last year to voluntarily recognize the local as the Lambert guards’ collective bargaining representative.

The city Board of Aldermen in February approved a resolution urging the company to do so. Luisangel Rodriguez, an SEIU spokesman, said Tuesday that no agreement between the union and GardaWorld has been worked out.

Earlier, aldermen had passed a union-backed ordinance barring city contractors from paying workers during training periods less than the amount set by the city’s “living wage� law. The union had accused GardaWorld of skirting the wage minimum by doing that.