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As talks to extend the Green Line closer to LAX continue, the city will still have to figure out how to get people to each terminal from the new station. Councilman Bill Rosendahl last week proposed that a study be conducted about the feasibility of extending the train line directly into the Central Terminus area so a people mover can deliver travelers to their terminals, according to his motion:
An on-airport rail link inside the LAX Central Terminal Area (CTA) would provide the greatest convenience to passengers and encourage the use of the city's mass-transit system. Space constraints, however, have made such a proposal difficult to consider. The pending purchase by LAWA of the Park One property, adjacent to Terminal 1, may provide the first real opportunity to build an on-airport rail link at LAX.
"If we don't make it accessible, people won't use it," Councilwoman Janice Hahn told the Daily Breeze earlier this week in regards to the people mover/rail link connection. "It's time to right that wrong for the public."
The Park One property the motion speaks of was approved for purchase today by the full council with the high price tag of $126 million. The Green Line motion passed a city panel on Wednesday and will hit the council in the near future. If the line is extended, Metro said it could be as late as 2018 before it is completed, according to the Breeze.
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Awesome.
The largest hurdle will likely be fending off the outcry from the taxicab/airport shuttle lobby.
Other towns have managed though. In Chicago for instance, the train goes *right* to the airport. The first time I encountered that my jaw dropped with surprise (being used to LA).
Honestly, I haven't figured out if this is useful or not.
To me, the smart thing to do--assuming this isn't done already--is to have a shuttle bus which stop at all terminals and the train. So you get off the train, go down and catch the shuttle, and you'll be dropped off right in front of your terminal, just as if you took a cab.
So if you bring the train right into the main terminal, you still have to schlep your bags from there to whatever terminal you're using. Fine, they set up some some kind of "people mover" but I'll still end up dragging my bag further than if I get dropped off right in front of the appropriate terminal by the shuttle bus.
Hey Red, what you propose IS, in fact, the way it works now... if i were to change anything I would just increase the frequency of the shuttles.
"More shuttles" doesn't really capture the non-rail taking public, I guess, but I agree, it'd be cheaper and work just as well. You can't take the actual subway to JFK, but the AirTrain works just fine!
THree very important factors are mising from "the current shuttles are plenty fine" reasoning:
*Capacity
*Gridlock (Sepulveda @ peak hours = standstill)
*Actual use (many people will take a train, yet balk @ a bus)
It would take *multiple* shuttle bus trips to equal one train full. In-terminal Green Line service is a stellar idea for those who actually want to catch their flight.
An in-terminal station is like the difference between being dropped off *inside* say, the Grove, or inching up to it from traffic-clogged Wilshire.
Although rarely used in L.A., limbs and feet are a very efficient way to navigate through people/machine logjams once inside "closed-off" environments, (like airports).
Plus, terminal 1 serves SouthWest (budget airline) among others.
I don't think that's a coincidence in planning, ie: budget passengers will be take the train right to the budget airline = pretty smart.
Can the plan to run the Green Line into the Airport be decided until the Airport Master Plan is completed? Will there be a people mover system between terminals and the Green Line Terminal? Will the Green Line terminal be part of bus, Airport shuttle and taxi terminal? There is just still to much on the table to be able to plan how the Green Line will integrate into the new Airport design. The Green Line should and its terminal should be part of all new airport design though.
Also innless the Green Line terminal is part of the Crenshaw LRT line it makes little sense to build a short stub line from a connection with the Green Line to a airport terminal. This would require a transfer and would be inconvenient to people with luggage. With the Crenshaw Line running from the Expo Line to Redondo Beach and the Green Line running from Norwalk to the airport terminal with the ability to transfer where the line overlaps makes this all more workable.
One question that comes to mind is who will be riding this line to the airport? There will be no direct Los Angeles airport service. Passengers will have to transfer from the Expo Line at Crenshaw or transfer from the Blue Line at Rosa Parks station which are at different levels and not designed for people with luggage. So will ride this line; tourist, business people or LA travelers going to the airport use this line even if is built? The big users of coarse would be airport employees or day travelers with out luggage.
Would an expanded “Fly A Way” service be a better idea at least until the new LAX terminal and the Crenshaw LRT line are built?