Q: While awaiting the FlyAway shuttle bus from Los Angeles International Airport to Union Station, I watched the unsafe chaos that LAX created when it switched the passenger pickup area to exclusively the outer lanes for private cars and trucks, and the bus pickups to the inner lanes. Droves of passengers must continuously cross fast-moving bus lanes with all their luggage in tow to meet their family members or friends’ vehicles, an obvious safety hazard. And cars and trucks picking up people at the outside island must slow down in the main lanes instead of the inside ones like in the past, causing HUGE traffic jams. Who implemented this change? Why?
– Andrea Davis, Altadena
A: In the past, Honk did prefer picking up Mrs. Honk or others via the inside lanes; it seemed less chaotic. LAX is one of the few places the ol’ Honkster gets a little nervous venturing into, because he knows a fender-bender could await if he doesn’t keep his cool and stay on full alert.
He doesn’t profess to be an expert on what is the best overall strategy for LAX, so he reached out to officials there to explain theirs.
The changes where made in October 2019, approved months earlier by the Los Angeles Board of Airport Commissioners. Included in the change was the LAX-it (pronounced “LA Exit”) lot, just outside the airport’s horseshoe-shaped roadways that curve around inside the terminals.
The inside lanes are reserved for approved shuttles that go to that LAX-it lot where people can grab a taxi or app ride such as an Uber or a Lyft. They also are for shuttles to another terminal, to off-site parking lots, to a bus depot, or to the LA Metro railway.
The FlyAway buses, with nonstop service to the train station or Van Nuys, can also go inside there.
The outside lanes – separated by an island that was widened for waiting passengers – are for regular folk in their vehicles in addition to car-rental and other shuttles.
Up above, on the arrival level, trundle hotel shuttles and those for private parking lots.
All of this was done, Los Angeles World Airports officials say, to give people specific places to go to catch their transportation out of the airport, and to reduce congestion in the horseshoe.
In 2018, according to Los Angeles World Airports stats, on average 96,000 vehicles each day entered the horseshoe, officially called the Central Terminal Area. Last year, that was down to 82,500 vehicles.
In about a year, the Automated People Mover is to show up at LAX and nudge out more congestion: Car-rental shuttles will disappear from the horseshoe, and so will those for passengers taking buses and the LA Metro rail system.
In regard to safety, Los Angeles World Airports officials say the terminal area is patrolled by its own Los Angeles Airport Police and a traffic-control unit, with drivers using those inner lanes “subject to LAX rules and regulations.”
HONKIN’ FACT: Bus rides will be free on the Orange County Transportation Authority’s system on Tuesday, Feb. 4, which would have been Rosa Parks‘ 102nd birthday. On Dec. 1, 1955, she refused to give up her seat on a public bus in Montgomery, Alabama, to a standing white rider and was arrested. She became the face of the influential Montgomery Bus Boycott, which helped change society. The previous year, Claudette Colvin also refused to give up her seat to a white rider in Montgomery – but at age 15, leaders thought it best to wait to launch the movement. Officially, by the way, the OC bus line and other transit agencies across the country call it Transit Equity Day, albeit the focus is often on Parks’ courage and stance. The Riverside Transit Agency’s buses and Metrolink’s trains are among the lines offering free rides. (Sources: the transit agencies and biography.com)
To ask Honk questions, reach him at honk@ocregister.com. He only answers those that are published. To see Honk online: ocregister.com/tag/honk. To see him on the social media platform X: @OCRegisterHonk