Click above to see larger.
As you may have read last week, Metro and Metrolink held an event to celebrate a future platform on Metrolink’s Antelope Valley Line that will serve Bob Hope Airport in Burbank.
As it also happens, the Airport and the city of Burbank are in the process of a transportation and planning study to see how transportation and land-use may be improved on at the airport. There is a public workshop on Thursday — see details on the flier above for time and location.
Below is a good map from the Airport and the city that shows where the Airport fits into the grand scheme of things transit-wise.
Categories: Projects
I do have some ideas on how regional transit could connect with the airport while maximizing efficiency and convenience for commuters as priority.
Given that the airport is widely used and has significant regional and national connections, it has the potential to make better use of a connection with High Capacity Transit (HCT) such as the Red Line versus a connection with a lesser capacity line such as the Orange Line.
Also, since there is a proposal for a future platform on the Antelope Valley (AV) Metrolink line, how will this connect with the Regional Intermodal Transportation Center (RITC)? To maximize efficiency, it would be best for there to be a single transportation center at the airport that allows for commuters to easily transfer from the airport’s terminals to the the regional transportation option of their choice (wether it is the AV or Ventura county Metrolink lines, the Metro Red Line, or a potential Burbank/Glendale/Pasadena connector line.
Given that the AV and the Ventura County (VC) lines split in Downtown Burbank, this would be somewhat of a challenge to overcome. Would it be somehow possible to permanently detour the AV line from its current path and have it continue along the VC line’s right of way into the the RITC and then split from the VC line right of way and head northwest through a tunnel to cross the east-west runways and then continue northwest (possibly at grade) between north-south runways and Clybourn Ave. until it reaches the tracks on San Fernando Road?
Yes, these are very unlikely ideas, but if implemented, I believe they would greatly increase commuter convenience and ease of transfer, and as a consequence increase ridership as well.
Extend the Red line from North Hollywood. It’s just 1 stop, but will provide a critically important connection to the airport.
There should be something like the flyaway bus that goes from the Gold Line in Pasadena to the Burbank airport. From Pasadena, I never drive to LAX because public transit serves just as well as driving and I always drive to Burbank because public transit doesn’t even come close to driving, in total time or frequency of service.