"No assurances." That is how the contractor building LAX's Automated People Mover described the chance of further delay. It used the phrase in a September 16 filing that the Los Angeles Times reported on and ABC7 summarized on September 25, 2026. The contractor, LINXS, has set December 8 as its completion date for the 2.25-mile train. After that, the system still needs 30 days of testing, an independent review, an assessment by Los Angeles World Airports, and a finalized utility agreement with the Department of Water and Power. Passenger service isn't expected until early January at the earliest.
So Thanksgiving, the December rush and New Year's will all come and go without the train. In June, the Times reported LINXS was projecting service for early October. That date is gone, and the project originally targeted 2023.
For Westchester, that leaves a holiday airport trip built on pieces that already exist. The most important one is the LAX/Metro Transit Center at Aviation Boulevard and 96th Street. It opened June 6, 2025. Until the train runs, this is the terminal's real front door for the neighborhood, and two of Westchester's main bus corridors already end there.
The connection that stands in for the train
The train was supposed to link the Transit Center to the terminals. For now, the free Metro Connector shuttle does that job. According to LAWA's ground transportation page, it runs every day from 4:00 a.m. to 1:00 a.m. and comes about every 10 minutes on average.
Metro's own guide fills in the parts you need standing at the curb. Leaving from the Transit Center:
- Go to Bus Bays 1 and 2.
- Look for a bus signed "Metro" or "Metro Connector."
- Ride to your terminal. The shuttle stops on the lower level, arrivals side, near the pink columns.
- Coming home, wait at those same pink-column stops outside your terminal.
The hours matter more than the frequency. Between 1:00 and 4:00 a.m. there's no Metro Connector service. That covers a 6 a.m. departure you'd want to reach by 4 a.m., and it covers a red-eye landing after 1 a.m. Those trips need a different plan, which is where the driving and pickup sections below come in.
Your bus line probably already ends there
Most airport-transit guides start with the train map. For Westchester, the more useful map is the bus lines running along streets you already use. Metro lists C and K Line rail service at the Transit Center, plus Metro bus lines 102, 111, 117, 120 and 232. Two municipal lines matter most for this neighborhood, because they run straight down Westchester's commercial corridors.
| Line | Where it runs near you | Where it ends at the Transit Center | Schedule notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Culver CityBus Line 6 | Sepulveda Blvd., with stops at Sepulveda/Manchester and Sepulveda/Westchester Parkway | Runs from UCLA to the Transit Center | Its stop list labels the endpoint "LAX City Bus Center," so check the boarding curb in the current schedule |
| Big Blue Bus Route 3 | Lincoln Blvd. and Manchester Blvd. | Bays 4 and 5 | Generally every 15 minutes or better; schedule effective August 9, 2026 |
| Metro K Line | Westchester/Veterans station | Rail platform at the Transit Center | Connects to the C Line at the same station |
| Beach Cities Transit Line 109 | Comes up from Redondo Beach's Riviera Village | Transit Center | 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., every 40 to 50 minutes; brochure effective October 5, 2026 |
The Culver CityBus Line 6 stops at Manchester and at Westchester Parkway. That puts a ride to the airport's transit hub within reach of much of the Sepulveda corridor without going near a terminal loop. Big Blue Bus Route 3 does the same for the Lincoln side, with service generally every 15 minutes or better. Its schedule booklet notes that the gaps change by time and day.
Line 109 isn't a Westchester route. It helps if family is flying in to stay with you in Redondo Beach, or if you're picking someone up and want to leave the car at home. Redondo Beach's page lists 40-to-50-minute headways. LAWA's transit page lists 45 to 70 minutes. The city's brochure, effective October 5, is the newer of the two.
If you bike in with a small carry-on, Metro lists a secure, BikeLink-managed Bike Hub at the Transit Center, 9225 Aviation Blvd.
One change from last year's routine: the temporary Line 857 shuttle between the C and K lines ended when the Transit Center began service. Rail riders now transfer inside the station itself.
Why the drive in looks different this year
The bus-to-shuttle trip matters more this season partly because the driving routes have changed on Westchester's own streets. The work belongs to LAWA's ATMP Roadway Improvements Project, a 4.4-mile reconfiguration of roads meant to separate airport traffic from neighborhood traffic. LAWA expects the ingress roadways to be finished before the 2028 Summer Games and the egress roadways by 2030. The end goal is less airport traffic on local streets. The years of construction getting there do the opposite.
Two changes have the most effect on everyday driving around the neighborhood.
96th Street between Sepulveda and Alverstone is permanently closed. Eastbound closed January 23, 2026, and westbound followed on February 26. Any shortcut that used that block is gone for good.
Westbound Century Boulevard closes at night through November 13. Between Jetway Boulevard and Vicksburg Avenue, westbound Century has nightly full closures from September 21 through November 13, 2026. They run 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. Monday through Thursday nights and midnight to 7 a.m. Friday nights. During those hours, the Westbound Century Departures Ramp is closed and signs send drivers to the Sky Way Bridge for the Departures Level. The Arrivals Ramp stays open the whole time. Southbound Jetway between 98th Street and Century is also closed while crews work.
The Century closures are scheduled to end November 13, nearly two weeks before Thanksgiving. They're one round of many, though. In June, LAWA said it planned 31 more periods of intermittent closures before the project wraps up in 2030. As of today, nobody has published a list of what holiday week itself will look like. LAWA's weekly ground-transportation alert for October 4 through 10 moved shuttle stops around the terminals, including LAX and LAX-it stops shifted between Terminals 1 and 2, but that notice covered only that week. Conditions in late November will be whatever that week's alert says.
The live sources worth bookmarking before a holiday trip:
- Live LAX Traffic, a congestion map with projected drive times from major intersections
- ATMP Roadway Impacts, with work descriptions and detour maps
- LAX 24-Hour Construction Hotline, (310) 649-5292 or [email protected]
Pickups, and the hours the shuttle doesn't cover
The drop-off and pickup rules matter most for those late-night arrivals after the Metro Connector stops at 1 a.m. LAWA's LAX-it page says taxi and standard ride-app pickups happen at the LAX-it lot beside Terminal 1. Passengers reach it on foot or by a free shuttle from the green stops on the lower level. Personal vehicles can still pick up and drop off at the terminals, and ride-apps and taxis can still drop off departing passengers at the curb.
That gives a Westchester household three different setups depending on the flight:
- Daytime and evening departures: Line 6, Route 3 or the K Line to the Transit Center, then the Metro Connector from Bays 1 and 2.
- Very early departures and arrivals after 1 a.m.: no Connector service, so a private car to the terminal curb or a ride-app drop-off. Taxi and standard ride-app pickups go through LAX-it.
- Picking up a guest: a private car can still use the terminal curb. Guests coming by transit ride the Connector back to the Transit Center and finish on the bus line that runs closest to your street.
When SkyLink opens, LAWA says it will be free and run 24 hours a day for ticketed passengers, airport employees, and people dropping off or picking up travelers. Its six stations will include the LAX/Metro Transit Center. The routes in this post are the ones available until then, and the Transit Center stays the meeting point for both.
With more than 40 years of South Bay roots, Bill pays close attention to how the airport's road work reaches into Westchester's streets. If you're weighing how the LAX roadway plan affects a particular block, or just want a local's read on which streets are changing, Bill Ruane is happy to talk it through. Let's Connect.
