It’s 2022. Life in Los Angeles feels a little on the gloomy side of normal, but you at least remember that, yes, I’ll finally be able to take a train right into the center of LAX for that revenge travel trip you’re taking in 2023. So the new year arrives, but the airport’s Automated People Mover doesn’t, and you think, alright, I’ll just have to wait a little bit longer until it opens in 2024. But when 2024 comes, this time you think, I’m smart, I won’t hold my breath for 2025. And that’s a good call because it turns out the APM won’t actually start service until 2026.
So here we are again: After once eyeing a January 2026 opening—which then got pushed to “early” 2026—the 2.25-mile elevated train has been delayed yet again. According to a report in the L.A. Times, the airport connection should hopefully be ready by the World Cup in June of 2026. But even that doesn’t seem like a sure thing, as Los Angeles World Airports says it’s working on contingency plans for shuttle buses in case there’s a further delay.
The problems stem from a dispute between LAWA and LAX Integrated Express Solutions, the project’s contractor. Drive into LAX right now and you’ll see the white automated cars sitting at the stations, just waiting to whisk you over traffic. But the project has been crawling toward completion (it’s currently hovering around 95%) due to disagreements over compensation and the timeline.
When the APM does eventually arrive, the driverless, rubber-wheeled cars will arrive around every two minutes at multiple stops in the center of the terminal area, as well as at the off-site economy garage and rideshare pickup area, a consolidated rental car garage and—perhaps most excitingly—a direct transfer to Metro’s C and K Lines. That station (the LAX/Metro Transit Center) actually already opened this past June; though you obviously can’t catch the APM from there quite yet, you can take a bus into the airport.