Houston Airport System officials recently announced changes to some parking shuttle routes that will reduce distance and wait times for passengers.

Ensuring the safest and most efficient route to and from the airports is a vital part of the goal to exceed passenger expectations at Houston’s airports, and the new route plan for the parking shuttle bus routes does just that.

The redefined routes from the two ecopark lots at George Bush Intercontinental Airport provide shorter times on rides to and from the terminals, and a consolidated drop off and pick up location at each terminal to help passengers get both to the gate to the flight and back to their cars in the economy lots when they come back to Houston.

“We are constantly seeking ways to improve the experience for travelers at our airports,” said HAS Director Mario Diaz. “These changes both benefit our passengers and make us a more efficiently run operation.”

Shuttles now will pick up and drop off exclusively at designated locations at each terminal. Signage in each terminal will help direct travelers to the locations. Shuttle passengers will be dropped off in the arrivals (baggage) areas for terminals A, B and C South, and in the departures areas for terminals D and E.

The new shuttle bus routes cut the miles traveled by the shuttles per trip nearly in half, and cut the projected time per shuttle trip from more than 20 minutes to nearly 10 minutes for terminals A/B, and from 25 minutes to 18 for terminals C/D/E.

To help shuttle passengers, electronic curbside kiosks at the new shuttle drop off/pick up locations will provide not only vital information on the shuttles, but also give up-to-the-minute ETAs for the next shuttle arrivals.

As well, the new plan will help ease congestion on the terminal departure ramps, help ease the shuttle traffic circling the airport — and, thus, both improve traffic flow and reduce the carbon footprint of the shuttles. Once in place, the new program is expected to lower the number of road miles covered by the ecopark and off-airport shuttles in a year by approximately 2 million miles.

And, because the new shuttle routes also cover the off-airport parking lots, passengers utilizing those lots will experience the benefits as well.

Combined, the two ecopark locations — ecopark I on John F. Kennedy Boulevard and ecopark II on Will Clayton Boulevard — provide more than 11,000 parking spaces available at the official on-airport value lots at Bush Intercontinental, with about 4,000 of those covered spaces.