AAA expects record number of holiday travelers

Whether it’s by planes, trains or automobile, AAA says for the first time ever, it is expecting more than 100 million Americans to travel this holiday season which kicks off on Wednesday, December 23.

AAA says 90% (91.3 million people) are hitting the roads this year. That’s an increase of 1.4% from last year.

Yellow Cab driver Christine Allaire has taken note.

“Last week, a lot of mass exodus because of DLI getting out,” Allaire said. “Now we’re seeing a lot of people coming in because it’s right before the holidays.”

AAA says nearly six million are flying the friendly skies, thanks to lower airfares.

Monterey Airbus has been busy shuttling passengers from Monterey to San Francisco International and Mineta San Jose International Airports.

Linda Church is one of those passengers. She is on her way to Boise from San Jose. She says she likes the convenience of taking the shuttle and not having to deal with parking. The only traffic she has to worry about now is in the terminal.

“We’ve got tickets and everything so I hope it’ll be easy in San Jose,” Church said. “It’s probably not as crowded as San Francisco.”

Gary Anderson of Indianapolis flew in to San Francisco to visit his sisters in Seaside.

“I used to take a plane down from San Francisco or from LA up to Monterey but it’s much easier to just take the shuttle,” Anderson said. “It’s a two hour shuttle ride, you don’t worry about connecting to another plane, hassle with maybe the luggage not arriving. I thoroughly enjoy taking the shuttle.”

AAA says more people are traveling because of rising incomes and low gas prices and airfares. However, they say hotel and car rental rates have increased a bit.