CA: Reader wisdom: Transit hacks for travel from Orange County to LAX

Well! We’re clearly not alone in our frustration over the transportation options — or lack thereof — between Orange County and LAX.

We haven’t received this much mail since Rehab Riviera hit the presses nearly nine years ago. So, thank you, fellow travelers, for sharing your airport transportation hacks, and we’ll pay your efforts forward by sharing those hacks here.

First, to summarize the issue: The Orange County Grand Jury found that some 9.9 million trips out of LAX are taken annually by passengers from Orange County. That’s 13% of LAX’s load and some three trips per Orange Countian per year.

Still, despite that, there remains a profound lack of workable public options for traveling from Orange County to LAX.

The grand jury, in its report, said Orange County has five viable “candidate sites” that could host direct-to-LAX transportation services: in Anaheim, Irvine, Fullerton, Buena Park and Westminster The grand jury also directed those cities to get to work on that; the cities have until late May to respond.

But federal law makes this much more complicated than it sounds. Public agencies can’t run a bus straight from some central spot (or spots) to California’s largest airport because of the Charter Service Restrictions rules, which forbid agencies that receive Federal Transit Administration funds from providing a “charter service” that competes with private companies.

So, a direct, publicly operated, long-distance service from Orange County to LAX might be legally viewed as competing with private shuttles or charter buses, and is thus verboten.

FlyAway

Which, after our previous column, prompted a reader to ask this question:

“There’s a Flyaway Bus that travels between Van Nuys (near the Van Nuys airport) and LAX — runs about once every hour or thereabouts throughout the day (24 hours/day). How do they get around the federal laws that you mentioned? Looks like the fare is $12.75 each way and parking at their terminal is about $6/day. LAX and Van Nuys airports are both managed by LAX, so maybe that has something to do with it.”

Yes indeed. Here’s the deal:

The FlyAway bus service avoids federal anti-competition restrictions by operating as a service of Los Angeles World Airports, the agency that runs both LAX and Van Nuys Airport. FlyAway’s operations and driving are contracted out to private bus companies, and the service is framed as an airport-operated, non-stop ground transportation initiative rather than as a public transit line.

Orange County had a FlyAway bus line, between 2009 and 2012. It ran from the Irvine Transportation Center straight to LAX, and took about an hour. But it cost $25 per person, offered just six trips per day, and eventually was discontinued. Perhaps we were living under a rock at the time, but we don’t recall hearing much about this service. If officials ever decide to give this another go, a much meatier public information campaign might help.

Hacks

Several readers offered this intriguing tip: One-way rentals.

“I didn’t want to leave the car in some remote parking lot for a week+ at fairly ridiculous rates. What worked, actually, was to rent a car locally and drop it off at the airport, then do the same thing in reverse when returning,” a gent who lives near Sacramento said. “Cost-wise, it worked out a little less than a week’s economy parking at the airport, even with a splash of gas at each end before returning the beasts. Think about that next time you need to make the OC-LAX run.”

The next extremely popular suggestion was: Use your proximity to the Mouse.

“For many years, until Covid 2020, my family took a Disney bus from Disneyland Hotel to LAX. It was the best!” one reader said.

It appears there are no more Disney-operated buses between the resort and LAX, but several companies operate shuttles serving Mouseketeers. They run not just from the three Disney hotels, but from neighboring hotels as well. If you live close, or if you can get a ride to the resort area, those buses could be an option. Do a Google search and book in advance. (These services are private; it may be the same price from your front door as from the resort area, so be sure to check.)

Next tip: Mix private and public transport — but skip Union Station.

“This isn’t totally public transportation, but it’s close and very cheap: drive about 50 miles to the Redondo Beach Metro station, park free … ride Metro to the LAX Transit Center, then take the bus ….  We’ve never taken this way to LAX, but we’ve taken it many times for Chargers games at SoFi (walk from the transit station some distance to a free bus to the stadium). It’s 2 hours from our front door to our seats.”

Folks closer to Long Beach can hop the blue A or gray J Metro lines, switch at Willowbrook/ Rosa Parks (A) or Harbor Freeway (J) to the green C line, and ride to the LAX Transit Center. That takes about an hour. It’s just 16 minutes more for the shuttle to the airport.

Monthly 24-hour parking at the Long Beach city lot on East 3rd St. is just $80, making this an extremely attractive option. However, most trains don’t run 24/7, so that could be a factor depending on when you take off and land.

Another hack: Use train station parking.

If you have the time (and not much luggage), do public transit from Metrolink/Amtrak to Los Angeles Union Station, and then bus or train to LAX. But be sure to get permission to park for more than 72 hours at the O.C. train station. Long-term parking is not available at all stations, and usually you can’t park longer than two weeks. The overlords who grant this permission vary; start with the city where your station is located and/or check with security at the station itself.

Remembering

Many folks shared reminiscences of the old days.

“I took the Flyaway from the Irvine Transportation hub many times,” a reader said. “In fact, I lobbied for it and I was pleased that they brought it in. The price was fair, and I was traveling abroad on business often so I liked the service. Yes, it was infrequent, but it was clean, quick, and professional.

“But the Irvine Transportation hub changed the parking rules, and I learned that the on-site police would be required to give a permit for longer than three days and not beyond 30 days and the police office was not open all the time, so Flyaway customers could no longer park there. It got so that I would drive to Irvine the day before my travel and get the parking permit so I could be sure of not having my car towed. FlyAway also did not advertise or promote the Irvine service in any way that I could see ….

“The combination of potential customers not knowing of the service, and the parking hassle, doomed the service. And after heavy losses it was cancelled. What a disappointment. I no longer travel as I used to … the pandemic and the shutdown ensured that. But easy travel to LAX is a missing link. Paying $25 a day at John Wayne adds up pretty fast.”

Another reader recalled a frequent bus from John Wayne Airport to LAX back in the 1980s. “I used to take it all the time — given the frequency, it took about the same amount of time as the commuter flight (maybe less), and I didn’t have to check in luggage, show ID, etc. I used to take it even when my company paid for the commuter flight — it was more convenient for me.

“My wife usually picked me up at John Wayne. But sometimes I took a bus to Laguna Hills Mall, and then another bus to within two blocks of my home in Mission Viejo.  Maybe a simple solution like that is worth considering.”

It is with a heavy heart that we report trying to schedule some of these hacks for our three-plus week trip in July to August, to no avail.

Yes, renting a car one-way would be cheaper than parking at LAX — but then we’d either have to park at John Wayne or cajole someone to take us and pick us up. Grabbing the rental car at the counter in my town is an option, but it costs more than parking at LAX.

In the end, we’ll be driving. My hacks: LAX Official Parking, which offers coupons that can sometimes save you tons of money (we live on journalist’s pay, so opt for the cheapest lot, which is Budget, which is not to be confused with the more expensive Economy!), and CheapAirportParking.org, which lets you peruse private parking options and variables like how often shuttles run. On this trip, the latter beats the former: So we’ll be going private, paying $8 a day. It’s the cheapest option for three people, round-trip, clocking in at less than $200.

(We’re going to the Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann, the world’s largest annual festival of Irish traditional music, song, and dance.)

Thanks folks for sharing your ideas, and bon voyage, buen viaje, turas maith a bheith agat!

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