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Post by bzcat on May 23, 2011 17:24:44 GMT -8
My previous thread on this subject was lost during the great server meltdown of 2011... at least that what I think... I can't find it. Another disclaimer... I know FlyAway is operated by LAWA and not Metro so this may appear to be in the wrong forum. But I think it is more relevant in this section because a lot of what I'm about to say has to do with the closed-door thinking between agencies and the lack of any real attempt to network the service. So anyway, it was reported last week that FlyAway lost another $4.6 million last year and the Westwood bus may be axed. Link: www.dailynews.com/news/ci_18075973The article was illuminating... The Westwood bus lost $8.5 million (!) but the Van Nuys bus does ok. Another nugget of information that makes you shake your head: LAX is required to have a total of nine FlyAway routes by 2015 under the terms of a legal settlement reached in February 2006 with the county, three cities and a community group opposed to airport expansion. This is what transit service planning in LA is all about: by court order and with no logic or reason. Ok, enough of my ranting. Here is my suggestion to fix it. I tried to keep it simple and achievable and with the idea that I need to find 9 serviceable routes. The basic gest is this if you don't want to read the whole thing: LAWA must make more stops at the end of the routes to make up for the "last mile" problem. LA does not have the transit network (yet) to just end the bus at Union Station and hope for the best1. Axe Westwood bus. This bus is slow and never on time because I-405 traffic. If you can get to Westwood just as fast on Culver City's Rapid 6, there is no reason for this service. And $5 one-way just can't compete with $1 on Rapid 6. 2. Van Nuys - This bus is supposedly doing ok so not much drastic change needed. The new carpool lane will help with north bound buses. The only thing I suggest is that LAWA should look into extending selected trips from current terminal (parking garage in the middle of nowhere) to Van Nuys Metrolink station. 3. Downtown LA - Re-brand the current Downtown LA bus as "Downtown LA Express" and add a stop at 7th St Metro Center. This will be the bus that primarily serves *locals* who will transfer to Metro or Metrolink trains at Metro Center or Union Station. 4. Add 3 new "Downtown LA Hotel" buses: #1 LA Live bus; #2 Financial District Bus; #3 Little Tokyo bus. These will operate like the Narita Airport Limousine bus and geared towards serving the *tourists* and people working in Downtown. The point is to not actually stop at all the hotels... just make a couple of extra loops in Downtown so that most of the hotels in the southern part of Downtown are within a 1 or 2 minute walk. A potential route/stop may look like this: LA Live route: [LAX terminal loop] - Century Blvd - I-105 - I-110 Bus way - 39th st exit - Figueroa - [USC/Radisson] - [Convention Center/Pico Blvd] - [LA Live-JW Marriott-Holiday Inn/Olympic Blvd] - [7th St/Metro Center] - end (bus can continue on the Biltmore to begin the pickup for Financial District route or go back to the yard) Financial Dist route: [LAX terminal loop] - Century Blvd - I-105 - I-110 Bus way - Adams exit - turn left - Figueroa - [7th St Metro Center] - [Bonaventure/4th St] - right on 4th - right on Flower - [The Standard-Hilton/6th St] - left on 7th - [Sheraton/Hope St] -left on Olive - left on 5th - [Biltmore/Grand Ave] - end (bus can continue to 7th st/Flower to begin pick up for the LA Live route or go back to the yard) Little Tokyo route: [LAX Terminal loop] - Century Blvd - I-105 - I-110 Bus way - Adams Blvd exit - right on Adams - right left on Main - [Fashion Dist/9th St] - right on 4th - left on Los Angeles St - [Kyoto Grand/2nd St] - right on 1st - [Miyako/Little Tokyo Plaza] - left on Alameda - [Union Station] - end (bus can turn around and operate the "express" service to LAX or head back to the yard) 5. The Irvine bus is problematic because Irvine Metrolink station is in the middle of nowhere and the express nature of the service skips all of OC's important bus transfer centers (e.g. South Coast Plaza, Fullerton, Santa Ana etc). LAWA propose adding a stop on Wardlow Blue line station in Long Beach is good but that doesn't fix the low ridership from OC problem. LAWA may just have to live with it since they have to have court mandated 9 bus routes. Personally, I think LAWA will see better route performance if they switch to North OC instead of South OC. 6. North OC Flyaway - this one is how I would have setup the OC Flyaway: [Anaheim Metorlink] - [Katella/Harbor] (lots of motels here) - right on Harbor - [Harbor/Manchester-Howard Johnson] - left on Ball Rd - [Disneyland Dr/Ball Rd-Days Inn-Sheraton] - left on Disneyland Dr - [Downtown Disney/Disney Resort Hotels] - left on Katella - CA57 North to CA91 West via carpool lane - I-110 North - I-105 West to LAX - [LAX terminal loop] 7. Work with whomever is operating Santa Barbara Airbus and the Ventura County Airporter LAX shuttle to re-brand their service as FlyAway... it's sort of cheating to get to the 9 routes but if LAWA pays for it, what is the difference? 8. I have real misgiving about the proposed (per the article) Santa Monica FlyAway. If LAWA doesn't serve the hotels, it will just duplicate BBB Rapid 3. It will be a replay of the Westwood bus. FlyAway must[/b] offer door-to-door service to distinguish itself from local bus service. 9. Ditto about the proposed Culver City FlyAway. It must offer hotel drop offs starting at Fox Hills Mall area (Double Tree, Courtyard By Marriott, Four Points Sheraton), and take Jefferson Blvd to Duquesne Ave to Downtown Culver City. And LAWA better make sure the terminal is at Expo line station (Venice/Robertson). So by my count, that makes 9 different LAWA buses plus the re-branded Santa Barbara Airbus and Ventura County Airporter shuttle 1. Van Nuys 2. Downtown LA Express 3. LA Live Hotels 4. Financial District Hotels 5. Little Tokyo Hotels 6. Disneyland Hotels 7. Santa Monica Hotels 8. Culver City Hotels 9. Irvine (assuming it keeps on trucking) 10. Santa Barbara Airbus 11. Ventura County Airporter The last 2 is "insurance" in case some of the other routes doesn't pen out.
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Post by carter on May 23, 2011 21:24:12 GMT -8
Just wanted to chime in that these all sound like reasonable ideas. I don't have a horse in this race though, other than Westwood-LAX is almost too short a distance to make sense, so Santa Monica and Culver City risk the same fate.
I imagine a lot of people on the Westside can just find a friend to take them to the airport or will take the local transit.
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Post by Deleted on May 23, 2011 22:36:16 GMT -8
Tourists want to go to Hollywood, so I would really recommend a bus that hits Hollywood/Vine or Hollywood/Highland.
I do love the idea of adding a stop at 7th/Metro since I live right there and most of the time it's inconvenient to backtrack to LAUS for the trip to LAX.
Maybe add a stop in Sherman Oaks (Sepulveda Orange Line Station, maybe?) on the Van Nuys line to make it more convenient for people from the South Valley to connect to LAX by transit rather than having to get to Van Nuys first.
I agree with the Long Beach connection mentioned in the article, and I'd also like to see a San Gabriel Valley connection created, maybe in Pasadena or San Gabriel.
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Post by James Fujita on May 23, 2011 23:24:19 GMT -8
I like bzcat's ideas, especially the hotel buses.
There's been a conversation at the Anime Expo messageboard on whether out-of-town people should take PrimeTime/SuperShuttle vs. FlyAway. I've been arguing for FlyAway ( spreading the transit gospel ;D ), but the shuttles have a big advantage because of the door-to-door service.
Hotels make great airport bus stops. They tend to have driveways large enough for the bus, the bellhops can serve as baggage handlers and if FlyAway had an agreement with the hotel, the concierge can be a ticket salesman ;D
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Post by bzcat on May 24, 2011 10:25:17 GMT -8
Tourists want to go to Hollywood, so I would really recommend a bus that hits Hollywood/Vine or Hollywood/Highland. I do love the idea of adding a stop at 7th/Metro since I live right there and most of the time it's inconvenient to backtrack to LAUS for the trip to LAX. Maybe add a stop in Sherman Oaks (Sepulveda Orange Line Station, maybe?) on the Van Nuys line to make it more convenient for people from the South Valley to connect to LAX by transit rather than having to get to Van Nuys first. I agree with the Long Beach connection mentioned in the article, and I'd also like to see a San Gabriel Valley connection created, maybe in Pasadena or San Gabriel. The problem with Hollywood/Highland is that Hollywood doesn't have direct freeway access to LAX so FlyAway must use surface street for long extended part of the trip. It won't be a timely or efficient service. The whole idea behind the original FlyAway Downtown LA bus was that tourist (and locals) will take the subway to Union Station and transfer to FlyAway. The WeHe/Hollywood FlyAway bus only makes sense if there is bus-only lane on Santa Monica Blvd from the I-405 and on Highland and Hollywood Blvd. 7th St Metro Center stop makes so much sense I don't know why it is not done already. The Orange line stop is a little problematic because it is not near a freeway exit. In order to serve the Orange line and still keep a timely schedule run to LAX, FlyAway has to be able to use the actual Orange line busway from Woodley Ave to Sepulveda. I don't know if Metro will agree to this as this makes Orange line schedule more difficult. [FlyAway Van Nuys terminal] - Woodley Ave - turn left on to Orange line bus way - [Woodley station] - [Sepulveda station] - turn right on Sepulveda - right on Burbank - left on to I-405 - Howard Hughes Parkway exit - Sepulveda - [LAX terminal loop] The San Gabriel FlyAway is interesting idea. I didn't include it initially because aside from Pasadena, there isn't one cluster of hotels that a proper FlyAway service can focus on (and Pasadena has Gold line to FlyAway at Union Station already). And if you try to use El Monte bus way, you have to deal with Metro and duplicate the Silver line virtually in its entirety from El Monte to Union Station through Downtown to I-105. Lots of issues. The only feasible SGV service I can come up with looks something like this: [City of Industry Metrolink] - Valley Blvd - left on Nogales - [Rowland Heights Plaza-Nogales/Gale] - right on Colima - [Punte Hills Mall-Colima/Azuza] - Azusa Ave - CA60 carpool lane - I-605 carpool lane - I-105 carpool lane - Sepulveda exit - [LAX terminal loop]
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Post by Justin Walker on May 24, 2011 10:50:30 GMT -8
The Orange line stop is a little problematic because it is not near a freeway exit. In order to serve the Orange line and still keep a timely schedule run to LAX, FlyAway has to be able to use the actual Orange line busway from Woodley Ave to Sepulveda. I don't know if Metro will agree to this as this makes Orange line schedule more difficult. Not true. The Sepulveda Orange Line station has very convenient access to the 405 via an access road that runs from the station to Victory/Haskell. Because of this access, the Sepulveda station is designated and signed as a freeway carpool/vanpool park-and-ride lot.
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Post by bzcat on May 24, 2011 13:27:10 GMT -8
The Orange line stop is a little problematic because it is not near a freeway exit. In order to serve the Orange line and still keep a timely schedule run to LAX, FlyAway has to be able to use the actual Orange line busway from Woodley Ave to Sepulveda. I don't know if Metro will agree to this as this makes Orange line schedule more difficult. Not true. The Sepulveda Orange Line station has very convenient access to the 405 via an access road that runs from the station to Victory/Haskell. Because of this access, the Sepulveda station is designated and signed as a freeway carpool/vanpool park-and-ride lot. Ok... that makes it easier. FlyAway can serve Sepulveda station and use Haskell to Sherman Way and then Woodley and to the Van Nuys Terminal. Shouldn't add too much time...
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Post by bzcat on May 24, 2011 17:09:50 GMT -8
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Post by James Fujita on May 24, 2011 18:13:18 GMT -8
In keeping with my "hotels make for great bus stops" theme from earlier, I'm wondering if some of the 7th/ Metro stops can be at the Wilshire Grand nearby. I note that you have one for the Sheraton on the other side of 7th/ Metro.
I know they're planning to eventually replace the Wilshire Grand with a new Wilshire Grand, but either the current hotel or the new hotel would make a good station stop, across the street from the 7th/ Figueroa entrance to Metro Rail.
Also, I'm wondering why the Little Tokyo "Japanese tourist" buses are going surface street from all the way down at Adams. That would slow down the buses considerably.
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Post by bzcat on May 24, 2011 22:47:25 GMT -8
In keeping with my "hotels make for great bus stops" theme from earlier, I'm wondering if some of the 7th/ Metro stops can be at the Wilshire Grand nearby. I note that you have one for the Sheraton on the other side of 7th/ Metro. I know they're planning to eventually replace the Wilshire Grand with a new Wilshire Grand, but either the current hotel or the new hotel would make a good station stop, across the street from the 7th/ Figueroa entrance to Metro Rail. Also, I'm wondering why the Little Tokyo "Japanese tourist" buses are going surface street from all the way down at Adams. That would slow down the buses considerably. Figueroa is one way street so buses can only stop on the right side of the road... Wilshire Grand is literally across the street from 7th/Fig bus stop... I think that is one compromise we will have to make The Little Tokyo bus is also supposed to serve the east Downtown (fashion and wholesale district) but I suppose it can exit the 110 from 9th street instead. But honestly, I think the local route is faster during rush hour. It can take 1 hour to get from Adams blvd exit to 9th st exit at 6 pm when there is a Lakers game. It is probably drivers choice...
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Post by jeisenbe on May 24, 2011 23:12:10 GMT -8
A Flyaway to Long Beach would be great. Blue line to Green Line to bus takes over an hour to get to the airport at the best times, and 1.5 hours late at night or when there is lots of airport traffic. I'd play $10 for that, in fact. (often flying out of LAX is more than $10 cheaper than Long Beach, if we even have a flight from our tiny airport)
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Post by bzcat on May 25, 2011 8:42:29 GMT -8
A Flyaway to Long Beach would be great. Blue line to Green Line to bus takes over an hour to get to the airport at the best times, and 1.5 hours late at night or when there is lots of airport traffic. I'd play $10 for that, in fact. (often flying out of LAX is more than $10 cheaper than Long Beach, if we even have a flight from our tiny airport) That's one thing I'm not sure how it will work out with the Long Beach proposal. Currently FlyAway Irvine cost $25 ( ) each way non-stop. LAWA is proposing to add a stop at Wardlaw Blue Line station. Clearly, they can't charge $25 to board at Long Beach... no one in the right mind would pay that. But if they charge different fares for Long Beach and Irvine upon boarding at LAX, how do you stop people from saying they are going to Long Beach and staying on the bus? Wrist bands? For reference, Van Nuys and Union Station are both $7 and Westwood is $5.
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Post by James Fujita on May 25, 2011 13:17:59 GMT -8
If I remember correctly, the same company which operates the Amtrak Connector buses also operate the FlyAway buses on contract to LAWA.
You could ask them how they handle customers who claim to be going to Glendale but who stay on until San Pedro. I've never seen it happen, but I'm pretty sure they have passenger lists. A ticket with the destination printed on it would work as well as a wrist band ;D
Incidentally, the Amtrak Connector buses will sometimes skip a stop if they know that there's nobody ticketed to go to Glendale or the Queen Mary. Since the buses are drop-off only, no pick-ups, this can speed up the trip considerably. (this isn't possible headed the other direction, unfortunately).
Hopefully the same would be true of a Little Tokyo-bound bus with no Fashion District drop-offs.
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Post by bzcat on May 25, 2011 16:34:44 GMT -8
There is no ticketing system on FlyAway... you pay the driver when you board so the driver will have to keep track of where the passengers are going. For the benefit of those who don't know, the way Narita Airport Limo works is that you pay for ticket inside the terminal and the ticket sales clark determines the best route and departure time for you (with aid of computers I'm sure). The Limo bus comes (usually within 5 minutes of your ticket purchase time) and a curb side conductor checks your ticket and write down where you are going on a form and alerts the driver if he can skips certain stops on the drop off route if no one on the bus is getting off there. All the while a team of workers tags your luggage with name of your hotel destination and loads it into the bus. It's all very white-glove and tourist friendly throughout the process... FlyAway is a low-budget low-rent operation compare to Narita Airport Limo No ticketing, no information desks, no route map, no curbside conductor, no luggage tags.
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Post by James Fujita on May 25, 2011 17:18:37 GMT -8
If you're going to add that many extra routes (which would require extra buses), I would argue that you would want to have tickets. At the very least, an information booth where you can buy tickets, ask for help, etc. You don't need curbside bus conductors or white-gloved baggage handlers, I would let bus drivers handle some of the responsibility, just as they do with the Amtrak buses at locations outside Union Station. EDIT: I love the Narita Airport Limousine bus, but I will admit that that's a level above anything we have here. They even have the "ground crew" bow at the buses as they leave. (And buses leave all the time.) However, I would think that service modeled on the Amtrak Thruway connector buses would be possible. It's the same company, so they should be used to that. And with hotels as station stops, you would potentially have an extra source of ticket sales, help getting luggage on and off the buses and so forth. Hotels already have their own people who deal with this sort of stuff on a regular basis. Aim the service largely at hotels/ the convention center and let local residents wander off from the Wilshire Grand, Bonaventure or the Kyoto Grand entrance to the nearest subway station or Metro bus stop.
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Post by wad on May 29, 2011 4:30:44 GMT -8
If I remember correctly, the same company which operates the Amtrak Connector buses also operate the FlyAway buses on contract to LAWA. Correct. That would be CoachAmerica. Occasionally, you will see one of the CoachAmerica-branded buses on either the FlyAway or Thruway routes.
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Post by James Fujita on May 29, 2011 18:43:12 GMT -8
That sounds right. I can never remember the name of that company. There is also a company called CoachUSA but I think they are now part of CoachAmerica.
I always figure that the generic buses are pushed into service when needed. If I were in charge of Amtrak California or FlyAway/LAWA, I'd want the Amtrak/ FlyAway-branded buses out there as often as possible, for that added amount of advertising. Besides, CoachAmerica handles other services as well, so it would be less confusing to have the FlyAway blue.
In any case, that shows that CoachAmerica is capable of handling a more complicated bus schedule, with multiple stops and possibly even multiple ticket prices for a single route.
With the Amtrak Thruway buses, there are tickets, in case there is a disagreement between the bus driver and the passenger. Seems like a good idea for FlyAway to adopt when they expand their services.
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Post by bzcat on May 31, 2011 10:14:04 GMT -8
Wad,
Does CoachAmerica operate ALL the FlyAway routes? I seem to recall reading somewhere that LAWA owns the NABI buses used on the Irvine route but CoachAmerica owns the MCI and GMC cutaway buses used on Downtown, Van Nuys, and Westwood routes. But lately, I noticed the NABI buses have been used on the other routes too (due to massive cuts in the Irvine schedule... the NABI buses are otherwise just sitting in the LAX parking lot).
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Post by Dan Wentzel on Jun 1, 2011 8:31:54 GMT -8
I propose a fly away for Hollywood/WestHollywood/BeverlyHills that runs up and down LaCienega.
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Post by carter on Jun 1, 2011 14:12:46 GMT -8
I propose a fly away for Hollywood/WestHollywood/BeverlyHills that runs up and down LaCienega. That could work nicely. Would you have it connect up to the Hollywood & Highland Red Lines station at the northeast end (ideally)?
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Post by bzcat on Jun 1, 2011 15:50:50 GMT -8
The problem with WeHo and Hollywood FlyAway as I mentioned before is that it will have to operate on local streets virtually in its entirety. That means it will be slow ride from LAX to Sunset Blvd... it will be like a local bus... which mean LAWA will be in turf war with Metro. Not to mention the run time will be unpredictable and make sticking to a schedule virtually impossible.
The Westwood FlyAway is in a very similar situation: almost 100% local streets, compete with local bus - and it is losing money like crazy.
The Downtown and Van Nuys FlyAway works now because they take the freeway carpool lane and offers a compelling speed advantage over local buses. Would anyone take the Downtown LA FlyAway if it has to use Wilshire Blvd instead of I-105 carpool lane and I-110 busway???
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Post by masonite on Jun 1, 2011 16:27:06 GMT -8
The problem with WeHo and Hollywood FlyAway as I mentioned before is that it will have to operate on local streets virtually in its entirety. That means it will be slow ride from LAX to Sunset Blvd... it will be like a local bus... which mean LAWA will be in turf war with Metro. Not to mention the run time will be unpredictable and make sticking to a schedule virtually impossible. The Westwood FlyAway is in a very similar situation: almost 100% local streets, compete with local bus - and it is losing money like crazy. The Downtown and Van Nuys FlyAway works now because they take the freeway carpool lane and offers a compelling speed advantage over local buses. Would anyone take the Downtown LA FlyAway if it has to use Wilshire Blvd instead of I-105 carpool lane and I-110 busway??? Westwood Flyaway has always taken the 405 carpool lanes every time I have taken it?
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Post by James Fujita on Jun 2, 2011 14:14:34 GMT -8
I wouldn't be too concerned about FlyAway competing with MTA because suitcases would be a huge factor. Metro buses really aren't really designed for luggage.
However, I do think that the Westwood bus would be a cautionary tale for any Hollywood or "crosstown" airport bus.
I'm also wondering if there's enough of a place for buses to layover if the final stop is Hollywood/ Highland.
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Post by bzcat on Jun 2, 2011 15:22:54 GMT -8
Westwood Flyaway has always taken the 405 carpool lanes every time I have taken it? The north bound route they normally take is Sepulveda Blvd to Howard Hughes Dr to 405 to Wilshire Blvd exit to Westwood. Very high percentage is local streets, and the freeway portion is notoriously congested. The HOV lane ends before the I-10 freeway so the last 2 miles on the 405 is probably slower than the Rapid 6 on Sepulveda. The alternate route I've seen them use often is to exit the 405 at Venice Blvd and stay on Sepulveda the whole way... which would be almost identical to Rapid 6 route. The south bound route is a little better because the HOV lane is longer but not by much.
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Post by Justin Walker on Jan 30, 2012 20:24:55 GMT -8
FYI, an article from last Wednesday in the Daily Breeze on the FlyAway. The article mentions the continuing poor performance of the Westwood and Irvine FlyAway services and LAWA's intent to add services that connect with the Blue Line, Orange Line, and Expo Line (all excellent ideas, IMO).
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Post by bzcat on Jan 31, 2012 15:30:38 GMT -8
FYI, an article from last Wednesday in the Daily Breeze on the FlyAway. The article mentions the continuing poor performance of the Westwood and Irvine FlyAway services and LAWA's intent to add services that connect with the Blue Line, Orange Line, and Expo Line (all excellent ideas, IMO). Sounds like LAWA tried to use the Irvine bus to connect Long Beach airport and LAX like I suggested in the first version of this topic. Too bad they couldn't do it. It seems such a fundamental point but LAWA is only now trying to connect FlyAway to existing transit hubs when they should have started off this way. Orange Line - I would suggest Warner Center as it is also a major Metro bus terminus/transfer hub. Expo Line - Culver City (Venice/Robertson) is the obvious location. But it should also make a stop at Culver/Washington to pick up more passengers. Irvine Line - The problem is no one in Irvine knows where the Metrolink station is... FlyAway needs to add a stop where people actually want to go. I would suggest Irvine Spectrum (lots of business people that may need to go to airport) as a good pickup and drop off location. North OC - LAWA should try the 91 freeway corridor instead of 405/Irvine. I believe there will be much higher ridership for a bus that originates in Anaheim, stops at Fullerton and Cerritos, and on to LAX.
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Post by masonite on Jan 31, 2012 16:45:03 GMT -8
FYI, an article from last Wednesday in the Daily Breeze on the FlyAway. The article mentions the continuing poor performance of the Westwood and Irvine FlyAway services and LAWA's intent to add services that connect with the Blue Line, Orange Line, and Expo Line (all excellent ideas, IMO). Sounds like LAWA tried to use the Irvine bus to connect Long Beach airport and LAX like I suggested in the first version of this topic. Too bad they couldn't do it. It seems such a fundamental point but LAWA is only now trying to connect FlyAway to existing transit hubs when they should have started off this way. Orange Line - I would suggest Warner Center as it is also a major Metro bus terminus/transfer hub. Expo Line - Culver City (Venice/Robertson) is the obvious location. But it should also make a stop at Culver/Washington to pick up more passengers. Irvine Line - The problem is no one in Irvine knows where the Metrolink station is... FlyAway needs to add a stop where people actually want to go. I would suggest Irvine Spectrum (lots of business people that may need to go to airport) as a good pickup and drop off location. North OC - LAWA should try the 91 freeway corridor instead of 405/Irvine. I believe there will be much higher ridership for a bus that originates in Anaheim, stops at Fullerton and Cerritos, and on to LAX. For about $150k a year, it seems like they should keep the Westwood Flyaway. Of course, the Westwood Flyaway will be very successful once the Purple Line opens here. Unfortunately, that is quite a ways off.
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Post by Transit Coalition on Jan 31, 2012 22:35:12 GMT -8
FYI, an article from last Wednesday in the Daily Breeze on the FlyAway. The article mentions the continuing poor performance of the Westwood and Irvine FlyAway services and LAWA's intent to add services that connect with the Blue Line, Orange Line, and Expo Line (all excellent ideas, IMO). Sounds like LAWA tried to use the Irvine bus to connect Long Beach airport and LAX like I suggested in the first version of this topic. Too bad they couldn't do it. It seems such a fundamental point but LAWA is only now trying to connect FlyAway to existing transit hubs when they should have started off this way. Orange Line - I would suggest Warner Center as it is also a major Metro bus terminus/transfer hub. Expo Line - Culver City (Venice/Robertson) is the obvious location. But it should also make a stop at Culver/Washington to pick up more passengers. Irvine Line - The problem is no one in Irvine knows where the Metrolink station is... FlyAway needs to add a stop where people actually want to go. I would suggest Irvine Spectrum (lots of business people that may need to go to airport) as a good pickup and drop off location. North OC - LAWA should try the 91 freeway corridor instead of 405/Irvine. I believe there will be much higher ridership for a bus that originates in Anaheim, stops at Fullerton and Cerritos, and on to LAX. Transit Coalition meets with LAWA staff once or twice per month to work on FlyAway issues. The current idea is to keep the Van Nuys FlyAway on Woodley and add some curb cutouts and create a set of stops at the Orange Line, just south of Victory. It is a good match to the 21.5 hour service span of the Orange Line to the 24 hour service span of the Van Nuys FlyAway. The West LA Expo Service would be from La Cienega / Koreatown.
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Post by Justin Walker on Jan 31, 2012 22:57:45 GMT -8
The current idea is to keep the Van Nuys FlyAway on Woodley and add some curb cutouts and create a set of stops at the Orange Line, just south of Victory. It is a good match to the 21.5 hour service span of the Orange Line to the 24 hour service span of the Van Nuys FlyAway. Love it. Can't happen soon enough. Only downside I see is that the buses would need to get on/off the 405 way down at Burbank.
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Post by Transit Coalition on Feb 1, 2012 3:09:01 GMT -8
The current idea is to keep the Van Nuys FlyAway on Woodley and add some curb cutouts and create a set of stops at the Orange Line, just south of Victory. It is a good match to the 21.5 hour service span of the Orange Line to the 24 hour service span of the Van Nuys FlyAway. Love it. Can't happen soon enough. Only downside I see is that the buses would need to get on/off the 405 way down at Burbank. Due to morning traffic back-ups that become very heavy at Sherman Way south every morning from 6 a.m. to 11 a.m., it can take an hour to get up to the top of Mulholland. If you skip the mileage between Sherman Way to Burbank on I-405 by using Woodley-Burbank, there may be a travel improvement. It sounds funny, but some mornings it has taken me 90 minutes to get up to Mulholland from Nordhoff, where the back-up typically starts.
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