Small firms at risk from car rental center

Tuesday, Aug. 31, 2004 | 10:33 a.m.

The estimated 1.5 million people who rent cars at McCarran International Airport each year should see less congestion and greater convenience when the Clark County Aviation Department's consolidated car rental center comes on line in early 2006.

But not everybody will be happy with the $150 million facility being built on 68 acres about three miles south of McCarran at Gilespie Street and Warm Springs Road.

"Some of the smaller companies, the independents and the locals, may be a little unhappy because the change will take them away from the airport," said Bernie Kaufman, president of the Nevada Car Rental Association. "All the (rental car company) counters are being taken out of the airport, so if you don't have an excellent reservation system, you're going to be a little less visible."

Currently, most rental car offices are scattered along the airport's periphery and each company shuttles customers to and from the terminal in its own buses.

But Clark County Aviation Director Randy Walker said the 11 companies that rent cars at McCarran will be on a level playing field once the two-story, 111,000-square-foot customer service building and the three-story, 1.8 million-square-foot parking garage are completed.

Construction is well under way on the center, which would be able to store up to 4,500 vehicles. Construction began in May and the garage and office are starting to take shape.

The rental car center also will have a single staging area with a common fueling system with six 25,000-gallon underground storage tanks. It also will have three two-story "quick-turnaround" facilities with wash and service bays totaling 148,000 square feet.

Walker said the consolidated center would take several vans and buses off the roads around the airport.

"There may be 10 buses picking up a total of 32 people in one hour because every rental company has its own transportation," Walker said. "So you see these big buses -- we call them 'moving billboards' -- stopping along the curbs to pick up passengers. We have a lot of curb space dedicated to rental car buses, space we frankly don't have enough of."

But under a new system that would be put in place when the center opens, one shuttle bus would be operated by a company contracted by the airport.

"Instead of 10 buses picking up two or three people each, we'll have one bus handling all the car rental customer traffic," he said. "It will decrease congestion and cut air pollution."

Passengers will be dropped off at a central lobby at the center and will be able to patronize whichever company they choose. The 11 companies that will be represented at the center are Alamo, Avis, Budget, Dollar, Enterprise, Hertz, National, Payless Car Rental, SavMor Rent-A-Car, Thrifty and US Rent-A-Car.

Walker said there's no additional capacity for more companies. If a new company enters the market, it would have to bid for the space when contracts are renewed.

Instead of counter space for rental car companies at the airport, a bank of telephones will be installed so that car rental customers who don't have reservations can call a company to see whether a vehicle is available before making the trip to the rental center.

Walker said the consolidated center isn't unique to Las Vegas. Other airports in San Francisco, Dallas and Baltimore have consolidated rental car centers that have received high marks from the public.

"For the consumer, it's going to be a lot nicer," Kaufman said. "It will get people in and out of the airport a lot faster and it will be better environmentally, since there won't be as many shuttle buses running all at the same time."