The Crenshaw/LAX Line will bring a station to the intersection of Aviation and Century — closer to LAX but still 1.3 miles from the beginning of the terminal horseshoe. Some of the initial alternatives being looked to connect that station to the airport are a light rail line, a people mover and bus rapid transit. Project page here.
Above is a video about the project that Metro released last summer. And below is the announcement from Metro on the upcoming meetings:
Open House
Wednesday, February 29, 2012, 7:30 am – 9:30 am
Union Station/Gateway Transit Center – East Portal*
One Gateway Plaza, P1 Level (Near the Fish Tank)
Los Angeles, CA 90012
Community Workshop
Thursday, March 1, 2012, 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Flight Path Learning Center
6661 West Imperial Highway
Los Angeles, CA 90045
Flight Path Learning Center is served by Beach Cities Transit Line 109 with connections at the Metro Green Line Aviation/LAX Station and LAX Transit Center. Free parking is available on site.
Community Workshop
Wednesday, March 7, 2012, 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Union Station – Entrance on Alameda St.*
(Historic Ticketing Concourse)
800 North Alameda Street (Cross Street: Cesar Chavez)
Los Angeles, CA 90012
More information is after the jump.
*Los Angeles Union Station is served by Metro Red, Purple, and Gold lines, Amtrak, Metrolink, Metro bus lines 40, 42, 68, 70, 71, 76, 78, 79, 485, 487, 704, 728, 733, 740, 745, 770, and 910 (Silver Line), Dash B., Dash D, Dash Lincoln Heights/Chinatown, Santa Monica Big Blue Bus Line 10, Torrance Transit Line 2, and Foothill Silver Streak. Parking is available on levels P2 and P3. The underground parking entrance is located on the west side of Vignes St. just south of Cesar Chavez Ave. Click here for Metro bus and rail maps and timetables.
Participate online!
A live video stream of the community workshop presentation and chat will begin at 6:15 pm at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/green-line-to-lax on March 1 and March 7, 2012.
The Open House on Wednesday, February 29th will feature information boards and opportunities for commuters to provide feedback. Technical experts and outreach team members will be available to converse with passers-by about the current alternatives analysis phase.
The Community Workshops on Thursday, March 1st and Wednesday, March 7th will provide an early look at alternatives and a forum to discuss them ahead of the formal environmental review process. There will be an open house, presentation, breakout sessions, and recap, providing a focused environment for reviewing technical information.
Spanish translation will be provided. Special accommodations and information in alternative formats are available to the public upon request. All requests for reasonable accommodations must be made three working days (72 hours) in advance of the scheduled meeting date. Please call the Project Hotline at 310-499-0553 or the California Relay Service at 711.
Please visit us online for more information:
www.metro.net/greenlinetolax
www.facebook.com/greenlinetolax
www.twitter.com/greenlinetolax
It’s time someone shed daylight upon this useless project! Now–I am a huge supporter of both light and heavy rail in LA. But the Crenshaw project is absurd. To Matthew Coogan: “So they want me to get on a people mover, then a rail car, then transfer twice with all my luggage, just to get downtown?” (Might want to add a spouse and a couple kids to that equation.) Imagine the average tourist trying to figure this out… Then again, imagine the average tourist trying to get even further to a hotel at Hollywood/Highland or Universal.
Which brings me to what I personally believe to be the unspoken truth behind the Crenshaw Line: It is a pork-barrel project designed to placate residents of South Central while big money is being spent on far more useful projects in other parts of the city. In other words, the LAX aspect of this project is nothing more than a charade. No local resident will use it, and no tourist will understand it. The line goes from nowhere to nowhere.
I don’t think your average South Central resident wakes up and exclaims “I’ve got to get to LAX!” If you want to rightly serve the good people of South Central, have the line shoot straight up to Hollywood, or, at least, CONNECT to something!
It seems everyone has their heads happily in the sand on this. I don’t know what to label this fiasco: PC? Groupthink? Political expediency? If LA really wanted one-seat LAX accessibility, they could and would do it.
Hi JM;
I think there’s a couple of points worth considering on this project:
1. For a lot of business travelers making quick trips to L.A. and with little luggage, the transfer from Expo to Crenshaw/LAX Line or Blue to Green Line may be easy.
2. LAX is a huge employment center and any kind of connection can perhaps help workers reach the airport far quicker than the current setup.
Steve Hymon
Editor, The Source
If a Metro Station is going to be built at Aviation/Century to connect the people mover with the Crenshaw Line, it has to be right and provide services more than what we have at Aviation/LAX today. Metro needs to have staffed presence there all the time to answer questions from confused tourists, provide transit maps, as well as sell TAP cards topped up with passes or cash value. Otherwise, you’re going to have is a bunch of confused people not knowing what to do to get where they want to go using mass transit. Also, if fare gates are going to be installed, make sure they install those wide speedgates instead of narrow turnstiles as lots of people are going to be hauling luggage around.
A good example of this is NYMTA’s Jamaica station which links the E line with the AirTrain to JFK; lots of NYMTA staff helping first timers to NYC, lots of automated ticket machines in multiple languages, and wide fare gates in consideration of travelers with large luggage.
Listen to Fukuzawa on this one Metro.
Steve,
I appreciate your response, but I really must stand by my previous statement, albeit paraphrasing Mr. Coogan’s view: “So they want me to get on a people mover, then a rail car, then transfer twice with all my luggage, just to get downtown?” I could sort of, kind of, maybe, almost understand this project if it had a hard connection to the Expo. The demographic you point out is pretty pretty pretty thin for the zillions it’s going to cost.
Let’s face it–the name of the game in LA is “tourist.” And no tourist is going to bother with this crazy thing. Face it–this is a “feel good” project for South Central under the guise of an LAX connection, which it doesn’t even do well.
We should do the people of South Central a favor and tell the truth about this expensive project, skip all the LAX silliness, and take the people of South Central where they really want and need to go (and it isn’t LAX).
If we want a train to LAX, then let’s build a train to LAX, and take the tourists where they want and need to go.
Thanks for the post Steve. This is a vital project–there were tons of people on Vancouver’s airport-to-city train and I believe tourists (especially younger) will take our trains to get to Santa Monica, even if it means transferring at Crenshaw. And you’re right, there are thousands of employees that need to get to LAX.
In other news, where are the meetings regarding the Green Line extension into the South Bay? Getting that train, at least to the South Bay Galleria, is imperative.
JM,
They are only building the Crenshaw Line because it’s along an existing rail right-of-way. That makes the project significantly cheaper. I don’t, however, think this line will be useful in any way unless it stops at LAX. The inability to get an airport stop has been LA’s greatest transit failure.
-Jeremy
Hi Neal;
I don’t believe there are any public meetings scheduled at this time on the Green Line South Bay Extension project. Here’s the web page for the project, which is in its draft environmental study phase. I agree it’s a good project and I’ll provide updates as they occur.
Best,
Steve Hymon
Editor, The Source
Another way to look at this is a potential for LA to finally have a “loop line” similar to London’s Circle Line or Tokyo’s JR Yamanote Line (or Oedo Subway Line).
Crenshaw Line: Expo/Crenshaw to Aviation/LAX
Green Line: Aviation/LAX to Imperial/Wilmington (Rosa Parks)
Blue Line: Imperial/Wilmington to 7th/Metro
Expo Line: 7th/Metro to Expo/Crenshaw
If all the tracks of these four could be connected to form a “loop line” (I dunno, Los Angeles Line or something?) then it would be a viable option that actually gets from LAX to Downtown LA without a transfer.
But the Crenshaw Line as a standalone product, I could understand how it’s can be construed as a pork barrel project.
Judging from the comments so far, I can tell that Metro is going to have to have a lot of workshops, public meetings and information sessions on this project. Public meetings are a good thing, especially if they can inform and educate people.
LAX has been one of the most obvious gaps in the Metro Rail system. I don’t buy the “nobody wants to go to LAX” argument; have these people dealt with the traffic around LAX? Maybe “nobody goes there, it’s too crowded?”
In addition to the obvious tourist and business travel, all of those airline passengers are served by an army of airport employees.
And, I hope Metro makes it clear that this is about more than Crenshaw — this line will link with the Green Line, and the Green Line needs to extend into the South Bay and Santa Monica.
I agree about the need for transit ambassadors, although I’m not sure that’s Metro’s job. The airport needs better public transit information and the visitors bureau or somebody should do a better job of telling about what’s reachable by transit in car-stereotype Los Angeles.