Originally Posted by
bocastephen
As to the air brakes, that's something I won't miss either - nor sucking on the diesel fumes in the enclosed arrival space while watching 15 Avis/Budget/Hertz/etc buses drive by until one National/Enterprise bus showed up
There haven't been any diesel buses in LAX in about 15 years.
Traffic congestion in the horseshoe is always going to be there during peak times. That's just how traffic works. If you remove the buses, the road capacity will be filled up immediately by other vehicles. If we want free flowing traffic in the CTA all the time, the only way do ensure that is to implement congestion charge. The bus lane is a huge improvement. You can now reliably exit the horseshoe in less than 10 minutes even during the worst traffic hours.
The APM offers an alternative to driving (or riding the bus) into the CTA so that's going to help a lot with those of us that do not want to experience the congestion inside the horseshoe. Rental car experience in particular will be dramatically improved. Instead of waiting for a bus that have unpredictable arrive due to traffic, and then riding up to 30 minutes to get to the rental lot, it will be a max 2 min wait for APM, follow up 7 minutes ride to the consolidated rental car center.
But many more people like to experience the congestion... there is an irrational preference to be dropped off and picked up right in front of the terminal.