Oct. 24, 2006
 
PARALLEL UNIVERSE: A Tale of Two Cities: One of These Centuries, L.A. Will Match Chicago’s Rail Connections to Its Airports
 
By David M. Kinchen Editor, Huntington News Network
 
Hinton, WV (HNN) – Scanning the headlines online from my old paper, the L.A. Times (I was a reporter there from 1976 to 1990), my eyes caught a story headlined: ‘Proposed rail line would go to LAX’. Here’s a link to the story:
 
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-greenline23oct23,0,5133733.story?coll=la-home-headlines
 
Believe it or not, after spending billions of dollars re-creating part of what was the world’s biggest urban rail system – a system that made the sprawl of greater Los Angeles possible – there still is no direct rail line from downtown L.A. to the region’s busiest airport, Los Angeles International (LAX).
 
By contrast, Chicago, my favorite city and arguably the best-managed and planned city in the country, if not the world, has light rail connections to both of its airports, O’Hare International (ORD) and Chicago Midway Airport (MDW). These connections – in place since 1984 – are convenient and inexpensive and are used heavily. You don’t have to spend $40 or more on a cab to the airports; you just hop on a train in the Loop – the Orange Line for MDW and the Blue Line for ORD -- and after a stress-free ride to O’Hare or Midway, there you are. I’ve used both these rail connections, mostly to Midway, my airport of choice, on Chicago’s southwest side. The fare is about $2 each way, more or less.
 
According to reporter Jean Guccione, “Los Angeles officials are drawing a new route aimed at finally closing perhaps the biggest gap in the region's mass transit system: A lack of a rail line flowing directly into Los Angeles International Airport.
 
Planners envision a new light rail line that would run along Crenshaw Boulevard and Florence Avenue between Exposition Boulevard and the airport. Although still in the early planning stages, officials believe that the line could be opened by 2015 if they can secure the $1 billion needed to build it.”
 
She notes that the “proposal is the latest in the long, star-crossed efforts of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to get light rail to LAX. The Green Line, which runs along the 105 Freeway from Norwalk to El Segundo, was supposed to terminate at the airport. But budget problems prompted the MTA to scrap the LAX connection.”
 
Dear Reader, bear with me…To get to the Green Line, you have to board the Long Beach-bound transit line in downtown L.A. (I’ve taken it all the way to Long Beach, a ride through scenic Watts and Compton). When you get to the 105 Freeway Green Line station at Imperial Boulevard, you get off and transfer to the Green Line. Then, within sight of the gigantic LAX, the line ends and you have to lug your baggage to a free shuttle bus for the final trek to LAX.
 
Not a pretty picture, especially if you’re traveling with kids!
 
According to the Times story: “The Green Line was planned to end at the airport's long-term Parking Lot C, where passengers could board a small automated train called a people mover to the terminal. City Councilman Bill Rosendahl, who represents the airport area, believes that it's time to proceed. ‘It's a no-brainer to me that we need light rail into LAX,’ he said. ‘That will take a tremendous stress off of our highways and also be better for the consumer.’"
 
Reporter Guccione: “Until a rail line is built, more than 1 million travelers a year are boarding FlyAway shuttles from downtown Los Angeles and Van Nuys to the Los Angeles airport.”
 
I’m very familiar with the Van Nuys FlyAway shuttle, because I lived about a mile from the shuttle terminal and used it frequently to go to LAX via the San Diego (405) Freeway. The downtown FlyAway is at historic Union Station, thoroughly renovated and a delight to behold.