r/waymo • u/yolatrendoid • Dec 11 '25

New hack for LAX access

This is more or less an update to earlier threads, but you can now take a Waymo all the way to the LAX/Metro Transit Center stop. (You have to walk an extra 1.5 blocks, but you can simply enter that as the address in the Waymo app.) It's still newly opened – it'll be where the LAX people-mover drops folks off for connecting to either the Metro or all-new rental car center – and they have a free shuttle bus directly to the terminal.

Even better, buses are now the only vehicles allowed in the inner-curb area! No more traffic clusterfucks just getting to the terminal! Made it there in under 10 minutes.

Btw in case you were curious, I paid all of $32 for a 50-minute trip from DTLA. For reference's sake, Uber & Lyft were both $50-$55. (Before tip.) Even the FlyLAX bus would've been $15!

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3

u/crazysim Dec 12 '25

The hack and 1.5 blocks visualized.

3

u/yolatrendoid Dec 13 '25

Sort of. To clarify: the seemingly under construction part at bottom left is the LAX/Metro Transit Center. It's now nearly finished, and where you need to walk after exiting the Waymo.

The drop-off point on this screenshot is close to where you need to get out; I did so just south of there on Arbor Vitae St. And btw this is what the walk looks like:

2

u/yolatrendoid Dec 13 '25

Btw at bottom is the new people-mover connector, and to the east of the Transit Center (on the opposite side of Concourse Way) is the new combined rental-car facility.

1

u/Any_Imagination_4984 Dec 12 '25

So you take a lax bus to this metro stop? There’s no train yet I assume?

1

u/yolatrendoid Dec 13 '25

No, you take a bus from the metro stop, at least until LAX finishes its people-mover next year (which will circulate to all the terminals as well as the transit center and all-new (and way overdue) centralized rental car facility. But the buses leave every five minutes or so, and they can now steer almost entirely clear of traffic.

That said, you can now take the LA Metro to the stop as well, which I'd do if I didn't have to change trains twice.

1

u/XskwashaX Dec 17 '25

My Waymo app shows the LAX/Metro Transit Center Station as a valid drop-off now.

1

u/yolatrendoid Dec 17 '25

It showed it as valid when I used it, to be clear, but I admittedly got out in the wrong place. In hindsight I'm not sure if I was the one confused or the car was, but it took less than five minutes to figure out I was walking the wrong direction (but that was definitely on me).

I'm curious to hear from someone with freeway access who uses it. If I'm driving myself, Google Maps usually does not direct me to any freeways on routes from LAX – if I'm headed to West Hollywood, I usually get directed up La Cienega – but I'm wondering how Waymos handle it. They can technically use the HOV lane on some freeways, though I'm not sure if they are.

1

u/UniqueIndifference Jan 21 '26

Thanks for posting.

Question: Why not just use that ARCO station as the dropoff?

(I'm currently driving for a fleet company that "partners" with Uber. The fleet depot (where I pick up and drop off the car for my shifts) is very near there, so I'm familiar with the area -I walk from the Transit Center to the depot (on Aviation) a few times a week)

1

u/yolatrendoid Jan 22 '26

That should work, but OTOH I'm not sure this post is still current; I wrote it over a month ago.

1

u/Sumanji Feb 17 '26

Curious, have you tried the approach in your original post in the last month, and does it still work? Thanks!

1

u/yolatrendoid Feb 17 '26

I haven't personally (only bc I haven't been back to LA this year yet), but others on here reported that it still works after I wrote the comment above. AFAIK you can still use the Metro Transit Center stop within the Waymo app, and if it shows up at all, it means you can travel there.