SuperShuttle airport business is shutting down for good at the end of the year
Commuter company SuperShuttle, which has ferried fliers to and from dozens of airports since 1983, said it will shut down permanently effective December 31.
The shuttle bus service got its start taking passengers to and from Los Angeles International Airport, and eventually its blue and yellow vans serviced more than 100 cities worldwide, from Cleveland to Kuala Lumpur. But the rise of ride services such as Uber and Lyft has cut deeply into its traffic.
Two SuperShuttle reservation specialists confirmed the company’s closure to CNN Business Friday afternoon. SuperShuttle’s leaders did not immediately return request for comment.
The news was first reported by the Los Angeles Times Thursday.
“SuperShuttle plans to honor all reservations and walk-up requests for service through Dec. 31,” according to a letter to its employees that was published in the LA Times. It cited a variety of factors for the shutdown, “including increasing costs and changes in the competitive and regulatory landscape” that “have called into question the economic and operational viability of the company’s operations.”
In recent weeks, SuperShuttle has shuttered operations in several US cities, including Baltimore, Minneapolis, Phoenix and Sacramento, the LA Times reported.
In January, the National Labor Relations Board ruled in favor of the company’s attempt to classify its Dallas-Fort Worth airport SuperShuttle drivers as independent contractors rather than employees. But the company’s labor relations victories weren’t enough to save it.
