The People Mover Slipped Again. Westchester's Airport Streets Were Never Waiting on It.

LAX's $3.3 billion Automated People Mover won't carry passengers this Thanksgiving or this Christmas. ABC7, citing the Los Angeles Times, reported on September 25 that the contractor's own filing puts construction completion at December 8. After that come 30 days of testing, an independent review, an assessment by Los Angeles World Airports and a utility agreement with the Department of Water and Power. That puts passenger service no earlier than early January 2027, and the filing offered "no assurances" against further delay.

For anyone flying out of the airport next door, the delay matters less than it sounds. The train was always meant to solve the last mile inside the airport. The project that decides how a Westchester household reaches that last mile is a separate one. It's LAWA's roadway rebuild along 96th Street, Century and Sepulveda, and its schedule runs to 2030. This season's airport trip is built around that roadwork. When the train finally opens, the same roadwork will still be there.

The train's calendar, in one place

The delay is the third or fourth version of the same story. LAWA and its contractor, LAX Integrated Express Solutions, or LINXS, started construction in 2019 aiming for a 2023 debut. ABC7 reported that technical problems and disputes between the two parties pushed it back several times. Bondholders moved an October 8 deadline to December 8, and if LINXS misses it, LAWA could replace the contractor. Fitch put the project's bonds on its negative watch list this summer.

LAWA has said it won't open the system without full testing. As ABC7 relayed from the Times, airport officials called rigorous testing of "all tracks, signaling systems and vehicles" standard industry practice and said they "will not compromise on these stringent safety protocols."

So the holidays work the way they did last year. The 2.25-mile train runs without passengers, and buses cover the trip it was built for.

The route that already works from Westchester

The neighborhood has an advantage most of Los Angeles doesn't. The K Line stops at Westchester/Veterans, near Florence and Hindry, and runs directly to the LAX/Metro Transit Center on the same train. There's no transfer. Here is the trip as it runs this fall:

1. Get to Westchester/Veterans. Metro lists no station parking there, so plan on a drop-off or a walk. Metro's own holiday guidance makes this point: some riders get dropped at a C or K Line station near the airport to skip the traffic on streets next to LAX.
2. Ride one stop on the K Line. The June 7, 2026 timetable doesn't run on one fixed headway. Weekday trips run about 13 minutes apart in some periods, and the gaps widen to 15 to 20 minutes later in the day. Check the live schedule before a tight flight.
3. Pay $1.75. That's the regular Metro fare, and transfers are free within two hours when you tap.
4. Board the "M" shuttle at Bus Bays 1 and 2. LAWA's Metro Connector shuttle is free and runs to every terminal. LAX's ground transportation page lists hours of 4 a.m. to 1 a.m. daily and an average frequency of 10 minutes.
5. Coming home, look for pink. Arriving passengers catch the shuttle at the pink LAX Shuttle signs on the arrivals level.

Metro's holiday post on The Source says plainly that the shuttle is a temporary connection until the People Mover opens. Temporary has now covered two holiday seasons.

Households closer to Sepulveda have another option. Culver CityBus Line 6 and Rapid 6 run along Sepulveda to the transit center on a July 2026 schedule. Big Blue Bus Route 3 still serves the transit center on a timetable effective August 9, 2026. On June 7, Metro also extended the last two westbound C Line trips to the transit center on weekdays and weekends, which helps on late arrivals.

The streets the train was never going to fix

Driving to the airport from Westchester is a different trip than it was a year ago, and the changes are permanent. LAWA's ATMP Roadway Improvements Project has redrawn the grid along the neighborhood's southern edge:

The Century closures matter most for red-eyes and dawn departures. LAWA's closure notice says the westbound Century departures ramp is closed during work hours, and detour signs send drivers to the Sky Way Bridge for the departures level. The westbound Century arrivals ramp stays open the whole time. Southbound Jetway between 98th and Century also closes during those hours. That work wraps on November 13, nearly two weeks before Thanksgiving on November 26.

Inside the horseshoe, LAWA's October 16 ground transportation bulletin lists drop-off lane restrictions at Terminal 4 through the fourth quarter of 2027 and at Terminal 5 through the second quarter of 2028.

What clears before Thanksgiving, and what doesn't

Some curbside changes run on short timelines. The same bulletin closed the LAX-it, FlyAway and pink shuttle stops at Terminal 2 through October 26 and sent travelers to the stops at Tom Bradley International Terminal, or Terminal B. If the work held to its posted end date, those Terminal 2 stops reopened three days before this post went up. The matching stops at Terminal 6 stay closed through November 6, and LAWA directs travelers to Terminal 7 in the meantime. LAWA says its closure dates can change, so check the weekly bulletin before an early flight.

The rest of the airport's ground setup stays as it is through the holidays:

• Taxi and standard ride-app pickups stay at LAX-it next to Terminal 1. Walk over or take the free shuttle marked by green signs at the arrivals curbs.
• FlyAway runs seven days a week between the terminals and both Union Station and Van Nuys. The one-way fare is $12.75 and there are no reservations. Board at the blue FlyAway columns on the lower level.
• Economy Parking at 6100 W. 94th Street has more than 4,000 spaces and 514 EV chargers. The maximum is $35 per 24 hours, and a free shuttle to the terminals runs around the clock. LAWA's parking FAQ says spaces aren't guaranteed during holiday peaks. It suggests arriving early, using Economy Parking or choosing ground transportation.
• Garage work continues in Parking Structure 2B through December 31, 2026 and in 2A through December 31, 2027.

Two clocks, one neighborhood

Even if the People Mover clears testing in January, it fixes only the trip between the terminals and the transit center. The roadway project around 96th Street runs on its own schedule. LAWA's October 8 roadway update splits that work into two phases.

Phase A is the pre-Olympics work: roadways entering the Central Terminal Area, 96th Street access to the ITF West facility, pedestrian bridges at Sepulveda and at 96th, and an elevated roadway leaving the terminal area. LAWA's slide labels the elevated roadway "Completed (Not Open to Traffic)." Phase A reaches substantial completion in May 2028, ahead of an Olympics construction moratorium in July 2028.

The exit roadways open in Phase B, along with the final connection from Sepulveda to Century Boulevard, the landscaping and the gateway elements. LAWA puts Phase B substantial completion in May 2030.

So the People Mover's delay sets the airport's internal schedule, and the roadway work sets the trip from Westchester. Holiday 2026 is the second season where the train runs empty and a shuttle bus leaves Bus Bays 1 and 2 every 10 minutes or so. The Sepulveda lane comes back in late 2027, the 96th Street segment to Vicksburg reopens after 2027, and the final Sepulveda-to-Century link isn't scheduled until 2030. Until then, the K Line from Westchester/Veterans to the transit center plus the M shuttle is the one route to the terminals that skips every closure in the table above.

At Ryan Shaw Group, we track projects like the LAX roadway rebuild block by block across the Westside and South Bay. If you're weighing how years of 96th Street and Sepulveda construction affect your Westchester home, start with a conversation and Request Your Home Valuation.