Bus Connection to LAX Is the Weakest Link

The light-rail train rumbled west, heading in the direction, the general direction, of Los Angeles International Airport. It was rush hour, and there were just a dozen or so people on board: a few teens, a security guard, a nurse, a guy selling M&M;’s to support his rehab program.

When the boxy train rolled into Aviation Station, where one can transfer to a free shuttle that goes to the airport, a handful of people got off. Some headed for work, some for home. But not a soul was on the way to take a flight out of LAX.

So it goes on the MTA’s much-maligned Green Line--the 20-mile light-rail line long belittled as the train to almost nowhere. The Green Line runs east-west, from the middle of Norwalk toward LAX. But just as the airport comes into view, the train suddenly jags southbound to Redondo Beach. (Problem is, it never makes it to the ocean either, stopping in a neighborhood two miles from the shore.)

Today, the line’s potential as an alternative to the automobile is once again capturing great attention. The East Coast terrorist attacks and the ban on private cars at LAX have made alternative transportation seem more attractive. Los Angeles Mayor James K. Hahn last week sketched out a revised airport renovation proposal, relying heavily on resuscitating plans to extend the Green Line to LAX.

But just when the 6-year-old rail line and shuttle connection to the airport could be attracting new riders, the opposite is happening. Paralleling the drop in travelers at the airport, ridership to the airport Green Line station is down, by about 15% since Sept. 11, according to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

Even though it costs just $1.35 to reach the airport by rail and shuttle, taking the train can be such a hassle that the savings hardly seem worth it.

Let’s say you’re a tourist coming from downtown, as Czech native Zbynek Svebla and four friends were on a recent day.

To save money, the group hopped on the Red Line. Then they transferred to the Blue Line. The overcrowded train barely accommodated their baggage. And the transfer point to the Green Line featured the harrowing roar of traffic from the nearby Century Freeway, just feet from the platform. But the final indignity came when Svebla and company finally arrived at Aviation Station.

The sight of the airport shuttle bus offered a moment of hope, until a crush of people rushed the bus, leaving the Czechs stuck on the curb and very unhappy.

Asked a befuddled Svebla: “Where did so many people come from? Were they on the train? I did not see them.”

The answer: Airport employees and others who don’t ride the MTA are cramming the Park & Ride lot at Aviation Station and the shuttle to the airport. The practice is illegal, saving a few scofflaws time and money, but taking precious spaces on the shuttle buses from legitimate passengers.

The bus drivers don’t seem to mind. On seven shuttle rides taken by a reporter over the last two weeks, passengers were never asked to show a ticket indicating they had taken public transit to get to the station.

The result? The MTA parking lot is frequently so full with airport employees that legitimate park-and-ride passengers can’t find space for their cars; and travelers such as Svebla often find themselves either unable to board or stuffed inside a cramped vehicle.

What’s more, as passengers such as Leonard DeLuna are finding out, some of the shuttle drivers, perhaps feeling pressured to meet their tight schedules, have essentially tuned out their customers.

On a recent day, DeLuna, a photographer who flies twice a week from LAX, stood curbside at the airport. He hoped to board one of the shuttles so he could get to Aviation Station.

When one shuttle pulled up, DeLuna grabbed his black bag and walked to the front door. But the driver said the shuttle was already too crowded and told DeLuna not to board. As he pleaded his case, two airport workers strolled right by him and were allowed on the bus.

“Hey! That’s not fair!” DeLuna shouted. “You just let those two people on!”

As DeLuna and the bus driver yelled at each other, the driver slammed the jaw-like doors on the Torrance resident’s outstretched right arm. She pinned him for about 10 seconds.

After DeLuna loudly begged to be freed, the driver relented. She then let him on the bus, but only through the back door.

Later, DeLuna sat at Aviation Station, showing a red mark on his forearm and suggesting the driver “take anger management” classes.

Meantime, the driver, who would not give her name, sat in her bus during a break. Angrily unleashing several expletives, she said she didn’t care one bit about the passengers or her job. “This is just a part-time job,” she said. “I don’t really give a damn.”

While many trips on the Green Line shuttle are smooth and peaceful, passengers describe an array of other offenses by shuttle drivers: rudeness, aggressive driving, inattention and occasionally blasting loud music.

Reached for comment on these incidents, airport spokesman Paul Haney said, “There’s no excuse for actions like this.” He promised that the shuttle service, operated by the airport, would be looked into.

Roger Snoble, head of the MTA, which operates the Green Line, called the shuttle drivers’ behavior “just totally unacceptable.” He also suggested that improvements are needed, “and quick.”

Snoble said that troubles aside, he believes the Green Line, which carries about 30,000 riders daily, is largely a successful endeavor. Still, he believes the line could be greatly improved by eventually going all the way to the airport.

Such sentiments would be wildly embraced by the likes of Mike Anderson, who had to wait an hour for a Green Line shuttle to pick him up from the airport recently.

Anderson stood on the Green Line’s platform, pointing to an unfinished slab of concrete that juts a few feet out of Aviation Station, abruptly ending in midair. That section could one day be extended on to the airport.

“This just adds to the frustration,” he said. “Just look at that: The best, most perfect plan they could have come up with--and the thing just stops cold. . . . Hopefully, one day, someone is going to come to their senses.”

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