Plus you wouldn't have to suffer on an Avis bus that farts and sneezes its way around the terminal due to some design problem with the air brakes. That has to be the worst noise pollution out there.

Thanks for the tip. I will note on this night the first problem was Airport Blvd. was doubling as a parking lot. I was considering driving on the sidewalk to get to the car return driveway. I was the only person on the bus, and the driver did take the lower level cut thru to Terminal 7 as part of the hour adventure.

If in the future you end up on a bus with a lot of people when traffic is bad (it can still be 40 minutes through the U from T1 to T7), you can save a lot of time by getting off at T1 and walking across to T7. It used to be possible to do this on the upper level/deck 2, and also through the parking lots, but due to construction and frequent access changes, you pretty much have to do it via the sidewalks now. The most reliable route now is just to take the sidewalk on East Way across. There are lights, stop signs, and flaggers with stop signs to make it easy to get across.

I am catching a flight from T6 on a Wednesday at 8 am. I'll be coming from downtown, and debating between an uber direct from my hotel or making my way over to Union Station for the Fly Away bus. Will traffic be bad at around 6:30 am on a Wednesday going from downtown to the airport? Is it worth the extra transfer to use the Fly Away bus since it can access the terminals using the inner roadway? Or is it basically a wash? Thanks!

Depends on where you are in Downtown. The issue here is that Union Station is actually not in Downtown... more like just north of Downtown, on the other side of US-101. At that hour (~7AM), it is near the peak domestic departure time from LAX so the departure level of LAX will be fairly busy so probably take about 20~30 min from exiting the freeway to T6.

If you are anyway near I-10 or 110 freeway on ramp in Downtown LA, it will probably be faster to Uber. If you are within 1 or 2 minute walking distance to Metro station, particularly on the northside of Downtown in general, it will probably be a little faster to take FlyAway, assuming you can line up on the departure time of the FlyAway bus.

FlyAway will take a long slog from Union Station to the 110 freeway but once on the freeway, it will use the Fastrak toll lane on I-110 and HOV lane on I-105, as well as being able to navigate inside LAX in transit lane. But FlyAway will stop at all the terminals whereas you Uber will go straight to T6.

Traffic will be thick during morning commute hours. If you can, leave 30 min earlier than whatever time you originally planned no matter which method you use.

Thanks! I'm staying at the Conrad and would take the light rail to Union Station and then hop on FlyAway. I take it an uber with 2 passengers can not use the HOV lanes? Is it HOV 3+?

The Metro ExpressLanes on the Harbor Freeway, I-110, are different than most HOV lanes elsewhere in Southern California. Vehicles with two or more occupants are permitted to use those lanes at all hours of the day, however, a FasTrak Flex transponder is required.

I do hope you left earlier than 6:30 am for an 8 am flight.

And you left off the punch line - there are still Uber and Lyft drivers who don’t have transponders. It boggles the mind.

I left at 6, had no trouble with the Uber. The driver had a transponder and we used the HOV lanes.

Are there any tips/tricks for moving between LAX and the City Bus Center?
The bus service for me getting to/from LAX is actually not bad, but the shuttle bus service to the bus stop is awful. Low frequency and sporadic buses. Once the APM comes online this problem goes away but that is still some ways out.

I've tried taking the bus from the Metro C stop, but that is not faster as it's backtracking for me, and the bus moves quite slowly between the bus center and C line stop, even though the C line shuttles are 3x+ more frequent.

The Economy Parking structure is located next to the LAX City Bus Center. Have you considered taking that shuttle and walking over?

I haven't. I will give that a try next time. Thanks!

We take the 20 minute (from T1) walk to the city bus center.

Take World Way/W. Century Blvd to Vicksburg,
Left on Vicksburg 2 blocks to 96th St.
Right on 96th to the LAX city bus center.
This is NOT a scenic walk, but it's the best walk and it avoids walking along very busy Sepulveda Blvd ( thus avoiding Google map's #2 walking route and Google maps stupid #1 suggested walk -- see below).

Do NOT take the "Skyway" route shown on Google maps.
It requires pulling your luggage uphill on the overpass above Sepulveda Blvd.
It also requires a stupidly dangerous crossing, including taking luggage up and down curbs, at 96th Street.

Thanks! That route doesn't look too bad, and it's helpful to have a time-definite option too for planning. I can combine with the LAX-it pedestrian route from terminals on the other side of the horseshoe.
I have walked the Skyway route once and yeah it's very unfriendly and awful with luggage. I had another fail on another route and stopped experimenting from there. Just taking the wrong side of the street can turn into 10 more minutes of backtracking. So I thought it's time to ask for better ideas.

I've tried using the shuttle tracker too but have had hit-or-miss experiences with it - some shuttles seem to go rouge / dispatched to other routes, out of service when I want to board, etc.

The shuttle tracker has been bad since they opened the budget lot. They don’t have it as a route and a lot of the economy buses get used on it.

Agree with the suggestions

1. Take the economy parking shuttle instead (way more frequent)
2. Walk (cross at Sepulveda/Century at street level and not use Skyway)

Scheduled to land at LAX T6 at 7:30pm on a Tuesday and want to get to a hotel in Beverly Hills.

1) Would curbside Uber/Lyft pickup save much time compared to shuttle to Lax-it?

2) If we go for shuttle to Lax-it, about how long should it take from the terminal to Uber/Lyft pickup?

There is no curbside rideshare pickup at LAX. However, there are two taxi stands that don't require taking the LAX-it shuttle buses, one inside Parking Structure 3 between TBIT and Terminal 3 near TBIT and the other at the far end of Terminal 7 outside of baggage claim.

Both Uber and Lyft list their black cars as having curbside pickup in their apps. Random agreement: https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopi...alifornia.html and https://www.reddit.com/r/AskLosAngel...vals_curbside/

Are they wrong or misleading?

How long should it take to walk from T6 to the taxi pickup? Are there usually plentiful taxis there?

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...c442a1964b.jpg

Uber Black and Lyft Black are licensed Transportation Charter Party carriers (TCP) and are treated like other car services, not rideshares; thus they can pick up curbside inside the airport.

Walking from T6 to the T7 taxi stand should take approximately five minutes. I have no idea about the taxi availability there. My sister usually takes cabs home from there; I have never heard her complain about having to wait for one.

There’s a sign at the T7 taxi stand with a number to call to request a taxi. Typically takes less than 5 minutes for a taxi to arrive.
If you want to call ahead while walking over the number is (310) 646-9177

It's almost always faster to take the shuttle to the ride share lot then to wait for Uber Black to show up at the curb side. The shuttle bypass all the traffic because the LAX buses have their own dedicated lane. Uber Black could take 15~30 min to get in there and another 15~30 min to get out of the terminal loop. I've never had to wait that long for rideshare shuttle and the trip is about 10 min max.

This is for arriving T6 at about 7:30pm.

It sounds as if calling for a taxi and then walking to the T7 stand could be the way to go. Do taxis take 15~30 minutes to get out of the terminal loop?

The shuttle could take 10 or more minutes to get to LAX-it depending on wait time. Reading other sources, Uber/Lyft could be a very short wait or take a while. Or a taxi from there?

Curbside sounds appealing in the abstract, but not given those wait times and terminal loop times.

A taxi entering the horseshoe, can/will take a bypass near Terminal 1, which brings them to the west end of Terminal 7. So they reduce their drive time to get to the stand on the east end of Terminal 7 by probably two-thirds. YMMV

I just did rideshare out of LAX over thanksgiving. The current setup in the rideshare lot has you walk past a long line of taxis to get to the crosswalk that takes you over to the islands where Uber and Lyft pick up. There were a ton of taxis there late monday night (after midnight)

During high traffic times (like the holidays) it can still take a long time for vehicles to even get into the horseshoe, so if the roads into the airport are showing all red on traffic maps it can still be faster from T6/7 to walk or shuttle to the LAXit lot.

Is Uber/Lyft notably less expensive or otherwise better than a taxi? We'd be going to Beverly Hills if it matters.

Would about 7:30pm on a non-holiday weekday be likely to be a high traffic time? Our major goal is minimal hassle and getting to our hotel quickly.

The taxi stand at T7 is at the end of the horseshoe loop. It's unlikely to take more than a couple minutes to exit the airport from there.

I picked my daughter up at LAX the Sunday morning before Thanksgiving. World Way was jam packed. I was waiting for her in the cell phone lot, where a lot of car service drivers were also waiting. She called me as soon as she got to the curb at T4. I had her walk over to T7 and I took the East Way bypass near T1 to cut across to T7. I arrived at the curb between T6 and T7 five minutes before she did; fortunately, I was not chased away by the airport police as I waited for her.

Taxi fares are metered and based on distance and time - Los Angeles DOT Taxicab rates - (there is a flat $51.15 fare plus a $4.00 airport surcharge going downtown, at least one taxi company has a flat $42 fare going to BH). Uber Black and Lyft Black rates are time and distance based. Regular Uber and Lyft prices are dynamic and are subject to surge pricing. You can't predict which one will be cheaper until you actually try to order a rideshare.

That's encouraging. With luck there will either be taxis waiting or they can be summoned on short notice.

Uber and Lyft have been relatively stable in price and pickup time, at least when I've checked. I was more wondering why someone would pass a long line of available taxis to get an Uber/Lyft.

Anyway, I'm less concerned about price (within reason) than time and hassle. Based on posts so far, the T7 taxi stand seems the best. With luck there would either be waiting taxis or they could be summoned quickly.

The taxis picking up at T7 come in from Sepulveda onto a service road avoiding the loop.
After pick up, they enter the loop just before the exit to Sepulveda. Basically no time is spent in the loop.

My experience at LAX is that Uber/Lyft prices from the airport can vary wildly. It's what got me back to driving myself as the pandemic wound down - getting there in a rideshare could be reasonable, but getting home could easily cost twice as much. With pre-booked parking I can usually get ~5 days for about the cost of a one-way ride to the airport.

Yup - keep an eye on the parking thread for good discounts too. I often pre-book parking at the terminal for a short trip, and it's so much better than Uber/Lyft for me. Short distance from the terminal, and no real-estate sales pitch from the Uber driver (who is really just doing this to meet people!).

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/los-...ng-thread.html

Bus devaluation
 

With a scant 10 days' notice, LA city bus 232 is moving a mile away. The Century and Sepulveda stop has been heavily used for years, but maybe Uber and Lyft lobbyists complained about their lost fares.

The new route does not pass through the tunnel and never gets closer than Aviation Blvd. After December 14, 2024 the 232 bus will be useless for saving time to or from LAX.

The Torrance 8 will be the only remaining bus route through the tunnel unless I missed some other news. Torrance buses run quite infrequently over limited hours, often an hour apart.

Metro micro will be usable over similar hours (avoid nights and weekends), but I've seen long waiting times and non-availability half the time I've tried to book one.

All the trends in my commuting expenses seem to be drastically up.

I wonder if this is intended to be the service pattern with the new LAX metro center. However makes no sense to make the route change before it opens.

Notice from the Transit app for line 232:

LINE 232 detoured from Sun Dec 15 at 12:00 AM to Fri Feb 28 at 11:59 PM due to construction. The following stops are affected: LAX City Bus Center

Except there's no construction. The Torrance 8 bus drives this route with no change.

Also FWIW tonight the 232 bus had an On Detour sign and appeared on the old route southbound, continuing through the tunnel before turning east on Sepulveda. The Transit app did not know about the detour. E'll see how long it lasts.

I've learned not to rely only on one source of information. I've found occasional errors (or maybe oversimplifications) such as in the Transit app and in Google Maps transit info, so I often refer to more "primary" sources, in this particular case, LA Metro itself (metro.net):

232_TT_12-15-24.pdf

Quote:

---

LAX / Metro Transit Center

---

So, the bus 232 timetable shows LAX/Metro Transit Center, but for the time being, bus 232 will continue to stop at the LAX City Bus Center, until the LAX/Metro Transit Center is open.

The new route does not include the Century/Sepulveda intersection or the tunnel under the runway. Torrance 8 is still covering that intersection at much longer intervals.

I really don't know what construction the Metro people are referring to. I see nothing obstructing the old route. The new route is worse for LAX passengers than the old route, which was almost as close as the LAX-it zone.

I may learn later this week whether 232 is still "On Detour" through the tunnel.

The Torrance 8 bus route is moving east January 12.


No more bus service at all through the Sepulveda tunnel. Just metro micro.

Public transport bus & train from Lax airport
 

Off to LA soon, still don't understand how to catch the free airport shuttle bus between Lax airport & Avation Staion (Green: C line).

Had anyone used this shuttle service? Don't wish to use the flyaway service (x4 guests), but would if required. As I intend to purchase all our physical train (TAP) cards for our trip.

Our final train stop is Hollywood/Highland (Red: B Line) before arriving at our hotel.

We can't find any actual info on the LAX airport website, or from any searches. IE: "After clearing customs walk to... catching bus 888".