When the words "cell-phone lot" come up in conversation these days, many PHL users probably don't know what you're talking about. That's because the cell-phone lot is hard to find, with only small signs directing you, on a circuitious route to it, on Bartram Avenue, also known as Route 291. Once there, you will find plenty of space, precisely because it's a challenge to use if you don't know the roads around the airport. PHL officials say they can't do what would seem logical and place big signs on the highway off ramps because PennDOT doesn't want to clutter up their own directional signs The result continues to be multiple vehicles parked along the entrance roads, a dangerous and illegal practice. Drivers apparently do that because: They don't know about the lot, short-term parking is expensive (more expensive than at most other airports) or their time is so important to them that they just have to save a minute compared with parking a little farther away in a safer place.
But to give credit where it's due, PHL was one of the first airports to have a cell-phone lot,.The lot is where it is because of a lack of space closer to the airport. Other airports have set up similar lots, as reported in this story from Tuesday's New York Times. The only aspect of the story that surprises us is that it treats airports' recognition of the need for cell-phone lots as if it were new.
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