An LAX perk for transit riders

Here’s a perk for public transit users that just might help fight the trend of declining ridership: Let travelers who take the bus or the train to Los Angeles International Airport cut to the front of the airport security lines.

That’s the idea being explored by the city of Los Angeles, based on a program at Boston’s Logan Airport. Travelers who take mass transit would still have to pass through metal detectors and have their carry-ons X-rayed, but they wouldn’t have to wait long to do so. Considering how timeconsuming some security lines can be, this would be a real advantage for transit riders.

Councilman Bob Blumenfield proposed the idea as a way to ease the notoriously bad traffic congestion around LAX. After all, the more people who travel to the airport on mass transit, the fewer cars there will be to clog the terminals and nearby roads.

It could also boost ridership on the Metro “C” Line (formerly known as the Green Line), the new Crenshaw Line train, which is slated to open this year, and the various train and bus lines that serve the airport. After Uber, Lyft and other ride-hailing companies were permitted to serve the airport, ridership on buses and shuttles plummeted.

And, frankly, it’s about time public transit riders got some perks.

Transportation planners wring their hands over the national decline in transit ridership. And they’re right — it’s a problem when people choose to slog away in carbonspewing, traffic-clogging single-occupancy vehicles rather than use more efficient, environmentally friendly public transit.

But transit agencies need to realize they are operating in an increasingly competitive marketplace, and they’ve got to deliver high-quality, convenient services — and some incentives — to attract riders. Offering priority access to airport security lines is a comparatively cheap and easy way to entice people to try mass transit.

Front-of-the-line service is also a more egalitarian way to discourage driving to LAX than, say, congestion pricing or other pay-to-drive initiatives. And, major airports already allow certain fliers priority access at security, such as first-class passengers and travelers with “Elite” status in an airline mileage program. Why not let the hoi polloi join VIPs at the front of the line?