Short answer: Metro rail is $1.75 and takes about 45 to 55 minutes on the train plus a shuttle. The FlyAway bus to Union Station is $12.75 and takes 30 to 60 minutes. A taxi is a $51.15 flat fare plus a $4.00 airport surcharge. An app has no flat fare.
The thing that surprises almost everyone: at LAX, taxis and standard Uber and Lyft do not pick up at the terminal at all. You take a shuttle to a separate lot first. Knowing which shuttle to board is most of the battle. Checked August 2026.
Every option, priced
| Option | Cost | Time | Where you board |
|---|---|---|---|
| Metro rail (K Line, change to E Line) | $1.75 | 45–55 min on rail, plus shuttle | Free shuttle from pink columns to LAX/Metro Transit Center, Bus Bays 1 & 2 |
| FlyAway bus to Union Station | $12.75 | 30–60 min | Blue FlyAway columns, Lower/Arrivals level |
| Taxi to Downtown | $51.15 flat + $4.00 surcharge | Traffic dependent | LAX-it lot — free shuttle from green LAX-it signs |
| Uber, Lyft, Opoli (standard) | Dynamic | Traffic dependent | LAX-it lot, same green signs |
| Uber Black, Lyft Lux, limos, town cars | Varies / agreed | Traffic dependent | Terminal curb — these are exempt from LAX-it |
| Shared-ride vans | No fares published | Varies with drop order | Lower/Arrivals islands, orange signage |
Three shuttles, three colours — get this right
This is the single most useful thing on the page. Every option except a pre-booked car starts with boarding a bus on the Lower/Arrivals level, and they are different buses going to different places. The signage colour is how you tell them apart.
- Green “LAX-it” signs → the LAX-it lot next to Terminal 1. This is for taxis and standard Uber, Lyft and Opoli. Runs 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, roughly every 7 minutes. From Terminal 1 you can walk it in about 8 minutes; from the far terminals, don’t.
- Pink columns, buses marked “Metro” or “Metro Connector” → the LAX/Metro Transit Center, Bus Bays 1 and 2. This is for Metro rail. Every 10 minutes.
- Blue columns → the FlyAway coach.
Boarding the green shuttle when you wanted the train costs you a round trip back to the terminal. It is an easy mistake at the end of a long flight, and the colours are the fastest way to avoid it.
Metro rail: cheapest by a mile, if you have the time
The LAX/Metro Transit Center opened on 6 June 2025 and finally connected the airport to the rail network. There is no one-seat ride to Downtown: take the K Line north, change at Expo/Crenshaw to the E Line, and ride to 7th St/Metro Center. Metro puts the rail portion at roughly 45 to 55 minutes.
The base fare is $1.75 with free transfers within two hours, so the change of line costs nothing. Fares cap automatically at $5 a day and $18 per 7 days, with no sign-up needed.
One catch worth knowing about the caps: they only accrue if you use the same card in the same form every time. Tap with your phone on one trip and the physical card on the next, and Metro treats them as two riders. You silently lose the cap.
Payment is a TAP card, TAP in Apple Wallet, or a contactless bank card. Cash works on buses only, exact fare.
Note the C Line also serves the Transit Center, but it runs east–west between Norwalk and Redondo Beach. It does not go Downtown. Take the K.
Compare pre-booked transfer prices
The one option that collects you at the terminal instead of a shuttle ride away — compare it against $55.15 all-in for the taxi.
Compare pre-booked transfer prices
FlyAway: the underrated middle option
The FlyAway coach runs from the blue columns outside each terminal to Union Station for $12.75, every 30 minutes. From LAX it runs 5:40am to 1:10am; from Union Station, 3:00am to 11:30pm. It arrives at Bus Stop 1, Patsaouras Transit Plaza on the Union Station East side.
It is the only option here that puts you Downtown with luggage space, no transfers and no shuttle to a lot — a coach from the terminal to a rail hub. LAWA’s own 30-to-60-minute estimate is honest about traffic, which the airport explicitly does not guarantee.
Only two FlyAway routes still exist: Union Station and Van Nuys. Hollywood, Westwood, Long Beach and others were discontinued years ago. If a guide offers you a FlyAway to Hollywood, it has not been updated since 2020.
The taxi flat fare
LADOT sets a flat fare of $51.15 between LAX and Downtown in either direction, plus the $4.00 surcharge on trips originating at the airport — $55.15 leaving LAX. All passengers ride for the price of one, so a group splits it, and cards are accepted at no extra cost.
An honest caveat: LADOT publishes this as its 2023 rate card and the document carries no printed effective date. A report recommending a meter adjustment was filed in October 2025 and we could not confirm whether it was adopted. Check the card in the cab. Full rates are in our Los Angeles taxi and rideshare costs guide.
What has not happened yet
SkyLink, the automated people mover, is not open. LAWA has said “opening in 2026” as recently as March 2026 without giving a date. Until it does open, the shuttles above are how you get in and out, and the approved higher rideshare fees — $12 for terminal curbside, $6 via the Ground Transport Center — remain dormant.
A warning about LAX’s own website, which we would rather you heard from us. Several live pages on flylax.com still carry an alert saying Uber and Lyft have suspended operations in California. That is leftover from an August 2020 dispute over a shutdown that never happened, and it is contradicted by LAWA’s own current pages. Both operate normally.
Choose by your situation
| If you are… | Take |
|---|---|
| Alone, light luggage, not in a hurry | Metro rail — $1.75 is hard to argue with |
| Heading to Union Station or Downtown with bags | FlyAway. No transfers, no lot, luggage space |
| Two or more people going Downtown | Taxi. $55.15 split beats two or three fares and skips the transfers |
| Landing late or very early | Taxi or pre-booked car — Metro runs roughly 4am to just after midnight |
| Willing to pay to skip the shuttle | Pre-booked car, Uber Black or a town car — these still meet you at the terminal curb |
| Using a wheelchair | Call taxi dispatch on 310-646-9177. An accessible cab comes to the dark blue ACCESS sign at the terminal curbside — you do not have to reach LAX-it |
LAWA publishes its peak congestion windows for the airport roadways as 6:30–9:00am, 11:00am–2:00pm and 8:00–11:00pm. If your flight lands inside one of those, the rail and coach options look considerably better than they do on paper.
Booking a limousine or town car, verify it first — how to check your driver is licensed covers the CPUC permit check that applies in California.
Sources
Metro fares, caps, routing and the shuttle details are from LA Metro. LAX-it, FlyAway, the shuttle signage, accessibility provisions, congestion windows and the SkyLink status are from Los Angeles World Airports. Taxi rates are from LADOT’s published taxicab rate card. Last verified August 2026. Where LAWA’s own pages contradicted each other, we have followed the page that is demonstrably current and said so.
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