Out of my Element

Flying into LAX next month. Last time we were fine with the airport and airplane experience, but the rental car shuttle bus was a madhouse and just packed in like sardines. Plan for upcoming trip is for one of us to wait at the airport with our baggage, and the other to walk to Hertz to pickup the car.

How far is the walk? Is it sidewalked all the way? 2-3 mile walk isn't a problem for us.

Appreciate the help

drseagrass

It depends some on the airline you come in on. From Bradley Terminal, it would be the longest walk, about 2 miles according to maps.google.com; shorter from any other terminal. You can also take the free bus to the C Lot, economy parking and get off at the first stop (cell phone lot). I have walked to Budget from there under the same circumstances when the rental car shuttles are impossibly full. Probably a 10-15 minute walk from there to Hertz down 96th St. Turn left on Airport Blvd. and it is on your right a couple long blocks down the road.

jerry a. laska

As above it's pretty easy with sidewalks all the way and a little over a mile depending upon which terminal you start from. As you come out of the terminal areas on World Way, World Way becomes Century Blvd. at Sepulveda. Then you can walk down Century to Airport Blvd. and turn left (Hertz will be two long blocks down) or you can cut over a block to 96th and follow directions as above Airport Blvd. and Hertz.
I usually walk to whichever hotel I am staying at on Century to avoid the shuttle buses. There is a mariscos food truck next to the Hertz lot on Arbor Vitae that I sometime visit when staying at LAX.

TWA884

Lot C was permanently closed effective April 1, 2019. The Cell Phone Waiting Lot and the City Bus Center are still open. Arriving passengers may take the Employee Lot South Shuttle to the City Bus Center; it does not run frequently because the employees lots have been temporarily closed due to COVID-19 (employees have been directed to park in the Central Terminal Area parking structures). However, the section of 96th Street between the Vicksburg Ave. Bridge, where the Cell Phone Waiting Lot is located, and Jenny Ave. are frequently closed due to the construction of the LAX Automated People Mover.

To the OP, if you choose to walk, there are sidewalks along Century Blvd. and Airport Blvd. all the way to the Hertz facility which is located at Airport Blvd. and Westchester Parkway. Exit the airport from the north side of the loop, near Terminal 1 and LAX-it, for the easiest access to Century Blvd (near the Hyatt Regency).

FlyinHawaiian

I've walked from the Renaissance to Hertz many times; it's about a 10 minute walk. You could always catch that shuttle if you see it before the Hertz one.

Stripe

I'd recommend the walk. I haven't walked to the Hertz facility specifically but I've walked around that area and it is safe. I had a similar dilemma to the OP's at CVG about a month ago. It was choice of waiting for a small and (from the number of pax already waiting) crowded van or a ~15 minute walk to the Hertz off-airport facility. That one was shorter but more complicated than what the OP will find. In my case it was through a parking garage, through the entrance booths to the garage, across several lanes of the airport access road, around a DoubleTree Hotel, and some road walking sans sidewalks. I did it on both the pickup and return and would do it again.

chrisl137

I used to routinely walk from T6/7 back to Lot C towards the end of Lot C's existence when the buses were getting scarce in the evening. Hertz is a few long blocks farther, but not a bad walk. It's easier from T1/2/3/B than 4-7 just because getting across the U can be a little confusing if you do it at the east end of it. I'm not sure what the status of the Sky Way/Vicksburg bridge is with all the construction work going on, but if it's still open it's worth the extra bit of elevation up and down - the incoming aircraft are so close it's like they're almost going to land on your head. The sidewalk for that is on the east/south side of Vicksburg - there's partial sidewalk on the west/north side but it disappears for a bad crossing, where the south side is continuous except for a short low traffic intersection.

Collierkr

No way I would walk. Has the bus gotten that bad in last 9 months? I would think it would be less busy.

chrisl137

There are a lot of people flying again. When I landed last night I walked to QuikPark from T6 and went straight to my car. I stopped at the counter to get my pre-pay validated on the way out and there were a ton of people who had just gotten off the bus. So if you're more concerned about riding a bus full of people than walking a mile or two, yes, the bus may be that bad. Everybody did have masks on and were good about distancing in line, even in a big high ceiling parking garage, but since they were parked there, they're also all local and used to wearing masks.

Out of my Element

Thanks for the feedback and for moving my thread from the California forum to this one, I hadn't noticed the LA forum before.

Back in July the shuttles were packed. 2 went by before there was room to get on the 3rd one, but that was uncomfortably full, too.

Flying in on JetBlue. Long walks are fine, this sounds quite doable. Good to know about the Renaissance shuttle.

beagus

I know this is an old post, but I have the same issue. I'm fine with walking but I'll be with a friend with mobility issues. How crowded is the Renaissance shuttle? Is it typically as bad as the car rental shuttle? I'm landing at around 6 pm on a Friday.

azepine00

It varies but overall things are busy and fri nights arrivals probably fall into very busy category. If you are talking about rental car, you can perhaps walk or take a shuttle while your friend waits for you at LAX...

beagus

Thank you for your response. My friend waiting for me at arrivals while I walk to get the car is also an option, though driving through LAX arrivals is its own kind of nightmare.

chrisl137

If you haven't been here in a while it's not as bad as it used to be. Arrival level personal vehicle pickups have been moved out to the islands, and the two lanes between the islands and the terminal curb are restricted to LAWA buses: parking, terminal connector, LAXit, Flyaway bus. It eliminates the crazy extreme multi-lane in a short distance crossings that really hung things up. Rideshare pickups are all at the LAXit lot. Traffic also is still below pre-pandemic levels.

You can also check the time through the U in near realtime on their LAXStats twitter feed. And unless you're going to T3, TBIT, or T4, you can use the East Way or West Way cutoffs to shortcut across.

dhuey

That was my experience a few weeks ago. The Avis bus ride from T1 (Southwest) can take an eternity, but my most recent trip wasn't bad at all.

I'm a big fan of walking, but it would be a dreadfully boring walk from LAX to the rental car lots. I'd take the shuttle bus and save the walking for somewhere interesting.