A direct connection between Los Angeles International Airport and Metro will be one step closer to reality when a long-awaited transit station opens in June.
The LAX/Metro Transit Center opens on June 6, Metro Board Chair Janice Hahn announced Thursday. The station at Aviation Boulevard and 96th Street will connect to the K Line and C Line and will eventually connect to the LAX automated people mover train.
The people mover is under construction and is expected to open in early 2026, ahead of the World Cup and the 2028 Olympics.
“When the people mover finally opens, then we will have an international airport that will connect people from literally inside the terminals to the world and beyond through Metro,” Hahn said during a Metro board of directors meeting.
Most major cities have a direct connection to light rail. That absence in Los Angeles has long bewildered travelers, especially first-time LAX fliers. The transit gap is blamed on a variety of factors, including reported concerns among airport officials over potential lost parking profits, pushback from the Federal Aviation Administration, and competing interests over taxpayer dollars.
In 2014, the debate was renewed and ultimately, plans for the airport’s people mover connection were approved.
The budget for the Metro transit center is $900 million and will include a 16-bay bus plaza with electric bus infrastructure, a bicycle hub and a pickup and drop-off area, which could help passengers avoid the airport’s traffic-choked horseshoe loop. Until the people mover train opens, travelers will be able to continue shuttling to and from the airport via bus.
Once construction is complete and the 2.25 elevated train is running, LAX passengers traveling from downtown to the airport would be able to board the A Line to the C Line or the E Line to the K Line, then board the people mover upstairs to terminals.
Travelers in other areas, including Redondo Beach, Norwalk, Leimert Park and Inglewood would be able to get to the airport via one line and the people mover connection; in Pasadena and Long Beach, two trains would be needed; and travelers headed toward Hollywood or Universal Studios would need to take three trains.
Officials have said that the airport train will run 24/7 and every two minutes during peak hours from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m., and that an end-to-end trip will take less than 10 minutes.
The airport is undergoing a $30-billion overhaul. Transit experts and Metro and airport officials believe the train connection will offer a more seamless path in and out of the airport and will ease traffic congestion for travelers and for thousands of employees who work at the airport.
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