To the editor: One needs only to look at the infamous Thanksgiving images of a completely gridlocked 405 Freeway to understand that efforts to improve the unacceptable ground transportation situation at Los Angeles International Airport have little chance of succeeding. (“In a city known for traffic, LAX is a standout for its gridlock. Can it be fixed?” Opinion, June 11)
The improvements under construction may divert traffic from the infamous roadway horseshoe connecting the terminals, but they are unlikely to materially reduce traffic to the LAX area. Apparently, owner Los Angeles World Airports continues to cling to the fanciful ideal that, despite clear limitations, all travelers are entitled to arrive and depart the airport in a single-occupant vehicle.
How do we know this? Look at the plight of LAX FlyAway.
At $9.75 one-way, FlyAway bus service can reduce vehicle traffic to the airport, is cost-effective to passengers and carries a far lower price tag than the billions of dollars and decades of waiting involved with building out the Metro system.
And despite these obvious benefits, only two FlyAway lines — yes, two — operate in a region as vast as Greater Los Angeles.
So instead of expanding the FlyAway service, LAWA is effectively building a new horseshoe for private automobiles and a frightfully expensive connection to a Metro system that does not yet serve alarmingly large swathes of the region. Unfortunately, despite great cost and fanfare, LAWA’s plans appear destined for failure.
Reagan McClymonds, Los Angeles
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To the editor: Tens of thousands of travelers fly into and out of LAX every day. Your article features three who complain. From that microscopic sampling, you get a front-page headline that calls LAX “the worst airport I’ve ever been to.”
But much of the article is actually interviews and quotes by transportation experts that LAX is a strong work in progress racing to the 2028 Olympics. These are positive, including a couple that says LAX is far better than the chaos at Atlanta’s airport, the nation’s busiest.
Yes, Los Angeles has gridlock. However, the headline should reflect how good LAX is, and that it will soon be a great, world-class airport.
Mark Shapiro, Los Angeles
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To the editor: Years ago, The Times had an article that stated people live with civic mistakes for decades. I say, scrap the LAX People Mover and overpriced parking structures and finally build a train to the airport.
In New York, the simplicity of a plane icon showing the way to JFK Airport is easy to follow. In Chicago, seeing the trains speeding to O’Hare International Airport in the middle of traffic jams causes envy in me. At that airport, you take a few escalators down and you board a train — no cars, no traffic.
B.P. James, Long Beach
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To the editor: In addition to the problems enumerated in this article, LAX is arguably the worst airport for elderly and handicapped patrons.
All these “improvements” relate to reducing traffic and getting people out of the terminals via shuttle buses and the People Mover, yet how will an elderly or a handicapped traveler navigate these?
LAX accommodates these travelers while inside the terminal with personnel accompanying them on electric carts from the ticket desks through the gate and in reverse to baggage claim on return trips. However, once they get their luggage, they are on their own.
Elderly travelers should be able to walk outside the terminal and grab a taxi like in every other city in the world, not have to schlep their luggage on a shuttle to a remote lot where they will have to wait in yet another line.
Wendy Prober-Cohen, Tarzana
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To the editor: The “shiny Tom Bradley International” terminal is cited in your article on LAX. What a joke!
I recently spent three weeks in Spain and Portugal, enjoying immaculate, well-designed air and rail terminals of all vintages and states of construction, only to come home to LAX’s worn-out and nightmarish Tom Bradley terminal.
There is no excuse for the pandemonium and utter lack of maintenance. Broken and abandoned luggage carts lie about, urinals are stopped up, dusty trash surrounds escalators, and the baggage claim is dilapidated. I pity fliers who are handicapped, elderly or traveling with children.
LAX needs a complete redesign, not Band-Aids.
Richard Stanley, Los Feliz
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To the editor: I must take issue with your claim that LAX does not have a “direct connection to public transit.” Everyone in my area knows the most convenient way to and from LAX is the FlyAway bus from Union Station in downtown Los Angeles.
I took that bus yesterday and it arrived within 30 minutes in the middle of rush hour. If you grab the early bus it can be there in 22 minutes. I’ve done it.
John Kwiatkowski, Los Angeles
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To the editor: Hey, L.A. Times, how about knocking down the headline whining and negativity a notch?
We live here and are all aware of our city’s big issues. We could use some help and positivity, not more sand in our face.
Kenneth Thompson, Manhattan Beach
