Sometimes it feels impossible to find something that truly unites Angelenos, but there’s one fact that we can all agree on: The traffic at LAX is the worst. Getting to—and more so around—the horseshoe-shaped automotive hell in the middle of the airport’s terminals will test your patience, as well as just how much you love your family and friends in need of a ride.
Thankfully, there’s a little bit of relief on the way soon for the “getting to” part of that equation: Metro announced that the LAX/Metro Transit Center station, a new light rail stop east of the airport with bus transfers and bike parking that serves both the K and C Lines, will open on June 6, 2025.
As for the “getting around” part of your LAX trip, this is still only half of what you’re really waiting for. The station will eventually connect with a stop on the Automated People Mover, a separate 2.25-mile transit line owned by Los Angeles World Airports that will make three stops inside of the central terminal area. But that persistently delayed project won’t open until early 2026.
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So why is this still a big deal now? After all, the C (formerly Green) Line opened a station with “LAX” in its name back in 1995, and it added the Aviation/Century stop with last fall’s expansion of the K (formerly Crenshaw) Line. Well, the short version: way more rail connections and a much more useful train station.
Let’s start with the connections. Currently, the C Line operates a free airport shuttle from the Aviation/LAX station (which, despite its name, sits underneath the freeway near the farthest corner of the runway), but that’s most useful for folks south of the 105 freeway. There’s also the relatively new Aviation/Century station, where you can wait for a bus connection from the sidewalk along Century Boulevard. But due to construction, these stations have been marooned for riders who approach from the north; that half of the K Line currently wraps up at Westchester/Veterans, meaning you have to take a temporary bus and then transfer to another bus to the airport.
But with the opening of the LAX/Metro Transit Center stop, the K Line will run seamlessly from Crenshaw to North Redondo. Moreover, it means that Metro riders along the E Line, which runs from Santa Monica to East L.A., can now make it near LAX with only a single train transfer. (Though if you’re coming from Santa Monica, the Big Blue Bus will still be a much more geographically direct option, and for Downtown L.A. folks, the FlyAway bus will likely still be quicker.)
Finally, there’s the station itself. From the early previews, it looks like the sort of full-fledged station you’d expect to find by one of the world’s busiest airports: a slick indoor-outdoor space with 16 bays for bus transfers plus secured bike parking, a customer service center and a passenger pickup and drop-off area. Look out for a suspended, origami-like sculpture from artist Glenn Kaino, too.
Perhaps most importantly, it’ll also tout a connection to the People Mover, an infamously delayed project that we included in our “things to look forward to” previews for 2023 and 2024, but finally wised up and excluded it from our 2025 edition. That was a good call: Its last official update now eyes a January 2026 opening. Once in service, you’ll be able to ride it between terminals, as well as to the economy garage, rideshare pickup, the rental car garage and, yes, a direct C and K Line transfer at the LAX/Metro Transit Center station.
Once both of these projects finally open, if you’re looking for another transit line to pine over, then allow us to introduce you to the K Line Northern Extension, a north-south route that would connect all of the major rail lines and let you take a one-seat ride from Hollywood toward the airport by—sigh—2047.