LOS ANGELES | Transportation News & Discussion

[dktshb]

Originally Posted by sopas ej

My partner and I have only taken the FlyAway bus once, several years ago. The trip to LAX from Union Station was a breeze---we loved it. But, the trip back from LAX to Union Station was frustrating. I don't remember what terminal we were waiting at, but yeah, we waited there for close to an hour or more it seemed, as FlyAway bus afer FlyAway bus kept passing us and other people waiting for it, becuase they were completely full. I don't know how other people's experience with it has been, leaving LAX.

I used to take it from Van Nuys all the time. Same problem. Getting to LAX was a breeze but coming home the busses would be full and pass right by even in terminals close to the entrance.

[bzcat]

The solution to FlyAway overcrowding is simple... It needs more headways that operates as short lines that starts at LAX instead of round trips. If you take a look at the FlyAway schedule, you will notice there are equal number inbound and outbound services per day and on hourly basis because it is operated as roundtrip service - meaning the route is operated as Union Station-LAX-Union Station roundtrip and not two separate directional schedules like a normal bus operation.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see the problem. There are different peak hours for departures and arrivals but FlyAway is running the same number of buses outbound from LAX because it has the same exact number of buses inbound. To make this a real service, you will need several spare buses that operate only one-way in the peak direction.

For example, if I was designing the schedule, I would make sure early mornings and late nights there are more inbound buses (peak departure time) while in the afternoon and early evenings, there are more outbound buses per hour (peak arrival time). Instead, FlyAway runs the same 2 buses per hour all day to/from Union Stations. Running unbalanced schedule means more deadheading which costs money without generating revenue. But it will make the service better and perhaps attract more riders. But does LAWA really want more riders? The Van Nuys service starts at a LAWA owned garage so LAWA is happy to run a bus from there. But the service to/from Union Station is not something LAWA wanted to do.

So as with all other FlyAway issues, the root cause is LAWA is operating it as a court consent decree. If it was up to LAWA, they will probably cancel the thing entirely. There is no incentive for them to provide more funding to run more efficient service because it doesn't make money for LAWA (unlike parking...)

[SIGSEGV]

Yeah two not-so-high capacity buses per hour seems pretty insane for a city the size of LA. Especially given what a shit show driving into LAX is in my limited experience.