City Creates Ride-Sharing Zones In Downtown Hermosa Beach

HERMOSA BEACH, CA — The Hermosa Beach City Council designated ride-share zones in a four-block area on Hermosa Avenue so that passengers can be easily picked up and dropped off by ride-sharing services like Uber and Lyft when they're visiting Pier Plaza or other nearby destinations, it was announced Monday.

The City is converting underutilized taxi zones into ride-sharing zones to free up space for ride-sharing services to pull to the curb, the press release said. Previously, ride-sharing services often had to double park for passengers to get in and out of the vehicles, the City said.

“The Council voted to create these ride-sharing zones after extensive study by City staff and a pilot program that evaluated the best locations and times for ride-share zones in the busy Downtown business district,” said Hermosa Beach Mayor Stacey Armato. “The City is ensuring passengers can safely get in and out of ride-share vehicles at the curb, rather than having to exit or enter in a traffic lane. Having ride-share vehicles stop at the curb — rather than in a traffic lane — also improves the flow of traffic in downtown Hermosa Beach on busy weekend evenings.”

The ride-sharing zones are located:

• In front of Hermosa Brewing Co. and The Standing Room Restaurant on the east side of Hermosa Avenue near 13th Street. This ride-sharing zone is in effect from 9 p.m. — 3 a.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
• Just south of Pier Plaza, on the west side of Hermosa Avenue, in front of the Bank of America building. This ride-sharing zone is in effect from 9 p.m. — 3 a.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
• On the west side of Hermosa Avenue near 11th Street (in front of Parking Lot A). This zone is available 24/7 and can also be used by taxis and others dropping off and picking up passengers. The driver must remain with the vehicle and can only wait there for up to three minutes.

Ride-sharing services can still pick-up and drop-off passengers at other locations in downtown Hermosa Beach east of Hermosa Avenue, the press release said.

“We welcome ride-sharing services to Hermosa Beach and remind all drivers to obey traffic laws and avoid unsafe turns or stops when picking up and dropping off passengers,” Acting Police Chief Milton McKinnon said. “The Police Department has worked closely with City staff to develop the ride-sharing zones because we had concerns about the safety of passengers entering and exiting vehicles in traffic lanes. We are giving drivers and passengers some time to familiarize themselves with the new ride-sharing zones before we begin stepped up enforcement of the violations we have observed without the ride-sharing zones. These include double parking, stopping in red zones and illegal U-turns.”

The City has moved the taxi zone from in front of the Bank of America on the west side of Hermosa Avenue to north of the Pier Plaza crosswalk in front of Citibank on the west side of Hermosa Avenue. Taxis can wait for passengers in the taxi zone from 9 p.m. — 3 a.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday, the press release said.

The City is posting signs to make passengers aware of the new ride-share and taxi zones, and the ride-sharing apps will direct drivers and passengers to the zones when appropriate, the City said.