Dude, run for office! You got my vote.

Babe wake up, a Nandert video just dropped

I physically checked your page 20 times over the last month hoping this gets posted

Can confirm people think Canada when they hear “Ontario.” There was one time I was flying home from Boston to Phoenix, and my flight was diverted to Ontario due to a dust storm in Phoenix. I presume Mesa Gateway Airport was also affected, and there aren’t any other commercial aviation airports in the valley. When the pilot announced the diversion, a lot of people on the plane thought we were going to Canada.

Its my sleepover and I get to choose the movie!!!

The Musk hole is madness. I don’t think most people are aware of how vastly different levels of people are lane (or tunnel) of cars can carry when compared to a rail line. A subway line can carry 10 to 20 thousand people per hour depending on frequency. A light rail can carry roughly half that. A lane for cars can carry - at best - 500 people per hour. It is an order of magnitude of difference! This is why so much of Southern California has been paved - the inefficiency of car traffic (that’s not even counting all the extra space taken up by the sprawling developments that cars permit).

If the Angels get to be a Los Angeles team in Anaheim then Ontario can definitely be a LA airport. Plus look how many major metro airports are actually more than an hour outside of town.

I had a moment in the middle of watching this one where I realized just how much work goes into each of these videos. Thanks for everything you do. These videos are such a great resource.

I have lived in the Inland Empire my whole life and ONT has a lot of potential. Its very modern compared to old LAX. Prices are much cheaper at LAX so many IE residents just travel to LAX to fly which hurts revenue for ONT. The airport needs to reduce prices. The airport is to expensive for the average IE resident

i’m mad that youtube didn’t put this in my regular feed

Los Angeles INLAND Airport

I looove flying into Ontario over LAX! It's SO much easier!!!

RE: an infill station at UC Riverside, it was originally planned with the Perris Valley Line. It was supposed to be along Watkins, and I fought for it hard, but a bunch of people who bought houses next to train tracks didn't want to listen to trains. It's obvious, but you're gonna have to fight a very angry hornet's nest called Friends of the Hills.

Have no care about LA and its airports but this series was awesome, informative and easy to follow. Amazing job also I was waiting for this third video to drop.

“And you’re not about to tell me that fucking Luton or Stansted are in London” 😂😂😂

Sending my hate mail right now as an IE resident. All jokes aside, great video on the potential of the ONT airport, and what that could do for the region.

Hour long video LETS GOOOOOOOO

As a Palmdale resident and having thought about it, you're right that a PMD airport wouldn't be much of a player (even with the prevalence of aerospace companies and employees out here). If/when CAHSR and High Desert Corridor rail are built out, it would render regional air service to Northern California or Las Vegas superfluous, and any other short/medium-haul air routes (Denver, Phoenix, Pacific Northwest) would be better served, as you mentioned, by rail *from* the AV to the primary airports (LAX, BUR, ONT).

For several years it was called LA/Ontario International Airport. I personally liked that name as it does serve the eastern part of the LA area. Also, most airlines will list Ontario as an option when you put Los Angeles in their websites as a destination.

As someone who lives in the SGV… I can definitely say that almost everyone you meet, knows exactly what ONT is and how great of an airport it is! I don’t think Iv meet one person who would say they prefer LAX over ONT! Truly can’t wait for the growth of this airport!

While Nandert's focus is obviously how the airport's potential growth will impact regional transit, I am equally fascinated by how ONT's growth might influence airline traffic. Probably, these are closely connected! Passenger growth drives the need for better transit connections, and better transit spurs the addition of more flights. Could Ontario ever become to LA what Newark EWR is to NY or BWI is for DC? E.g., a busy airport with strong domestic and international options. As Nandert demonstrated, it has the long runways already and also lacks the restrictions faced by the other SoCal candidate air fields. Arguably, SNA and BUR already fill the niche in short-haul domestic service that LaGuardia plays for the New York area and DCA plays for DC. Yet, LA lacks a second airport with substantial long-haul connections, both domestic and international. That is the role ONT should aspire to. I think this vision is feasible for three reasons. First, the three legacy U.S. airlines already use LAX as a hub/crew base. If any one of them chose to "corner the regional market" by upping the ante at a second SoCal airport, they already have local staffing to jumpstart expansion. Such a move by one of United/American/Delta might also spur at least one of their alliance partners to bring international routes with heavy aircraft to the Inland Empire. Second, flights to/from Europe (or the eastern U.S.) would save up to 20-30 minutes of flight time by using ONT instead. That may seem insignficant for a 10 hour flight, but fuel is the airlines' biggest cost. Even that small savings on a daily basis, year after year, could make expanded service to ONT a good investment. Third, we know from the first video in this series that LAX is the #1 airport in the world for origin/destination travel. Since the airlines don't primarily rely on passengers changing planes, shifting some traffic east would have minimal impact on the business model for sucess at LAX. It would be more about whether passengers want to go there. Currently, the biggest drawback to ONT attracting flights from farther away is that many non-local travelers, especially the business fliers, want to head downtown. For them, LAX will be closer to their destination. (It's probably a wash for those tourist travelers bound for Disneyland.) The intermodal tansit center Nandert envisioned mitigates the transfer-time issue with faster service not only to DTLA but to the broader LA basin than comparably available from LAX. I don't know how much growth in passenger numbers would need to occur for ONT to start attracting investment from both transit planners _and_ airlines, but I suspect there's some sweet spot (15 million? 20? 30?) where both the long-haul flights and the investment in regional transit converge to create a virtuous cycle that elevates ONT into just such an airport powerhouse. Not likely in this decade. But, during the '30s? One can see a pathway! Now, if we can just get the transit portion moving....

I treat ONT as a family secret to avoid the long lines, shitty terminal design, and nightmarish parking/drop-off/pickup of literally every other airport in SoCal. The less people know about ONT the better.

38:05 I like how you mention not needing to relocate a station here if future changes mean that this line will be disused. What the region needs is a concrete long range plan that they’ll stick to and see through. This includes land acquisition, ensuring that rights of way are protected (e.g. on interstates, power corridors), and not changing direction when there is a change in government - which is what happens literally everywhere. LA is doing a lot & doing some of it right too; but it’s got so much damage to undo that it’s going to take a century of effort and planning to reshape it into a sustainable city for the future. Great vid as always. 😊

With how horrible the fight was between LAWA and San Bernardino County, you will never get that airport renamed. LAWA tried its hardest to completely bankrupt ONT and the effects are still being felt

Finally the ONT video, my home. Also expect a strongly worded letter regarding the airport name Nandert.

here we go!!

Please tell me city/county planners have come to you about your plans youve created?

8:00: To make the point even stronger,I would have counted _four_ east-west freeways (that are always slammed) connecting the LA area to the Inland Empire. I-210/CA-210 (Pasadena Freeway/Foothill Freeway), I-10 (San Bernardino Freeway), CA-60 (Pomona Freeway/Moreno Valley Freeway), and CA-91 (Riverside Freeway). I think 91 was the one not shown. That one "originates" in Torrance on the coast (south of LAX) and then connects southern LA _county_ to both Orange County and the Inland Empire. Despite missing LA proper, this freeway has occasionally earned the distinction "busiest" highway in the U.S., so absolutely merits inclusion. It intersects I-15 in Corona, at a point only 10 minutes or so (at freeway speed) from the airport. If one originates in Riverside and drives direct to LAX (75-ish minutes), CA-91 is most of the route. Missing that drive on the 91 alone makes ONT the more convenient airport. Similarly, anyone leaving OC bound for ONT will be on CA-91. Also worth pointing out that I-15 connects (transects) all four of these east-west freeway corridors basically at ONT. With a buffer of a few city blocks, the airport is bounded by freeways on three sides. Sandwiched between I-10 (north) and CA-60 (south), I-15 skirts its eastern boundaries. That north-south corridor on I-15 from CA-210 to CA-91 takes about 20 minutes because the "vertical" spacing between all four E-W freeways is quite narrow at that point. One could within about 20 minutes exit I-210 to SB I-15, then pass the 10, ONT, and the 60, before the merge onto the 91. That's a lot of E-W lanes!

Wow amazing! Best of the series ! Way to end it with a bang 🎉

Most anticipated video in a long time! Thanks so much for it!

hell yeah i know what i'm doing instead of working today

A direct regional rail link from LAUS to ONT would be fantastic for ONT's growth and for the entire L.A. Metro area. Getting from LAX to DTLA is never going to be easy and the environmental impacts of LAX are terrible.

This video is amazing, thank you for creating! Watched all the way though.

I think for locals, there's a sense of pride in the name ONTARIO... not to mention the $$$ spent to re-brand ONT away from LA. That was a whole thing a while back. Keep up the great and diligent work!

As a lifetime area resident and someone who has been going to ONT since the 1960s, I can certainly appreciate your video. When I was a kid, we would look forward to holding on to the railing as the 727s would do a U-turn right in front of us resulting in a wonderful jet blast of fuel and sand and grit. The good news is that ONT’s relatively underused terminals and ease of freeway access (even with traffic) have a lot of positives. The limiting factor is that the air services are inadequate with Southwest dominating and the Big 3 focused on flights to their hubs. This means that I literally drive by ONT to go to LAX for long-haul. I know the transit systems in the area, and Metrolink in particular, from many years of riding the San Bernardino Line. In looking at your video, as seeing how inefficient Arrow and SBX are, all of the transit options are really not viable in this area as you can get there so much faster and easier by car even in traffic.

this is incredibly well done. Great job!

I live right next to KSNA and it is wild for such a small place, to have 6 fewer gates than ONT but double the pax... yikes.

Wow! I was not expecting all this information, it was entertaining and informative and your explanation were easy to follow, thank you for making such a great video 👍

Such an impressive level of thought and care put into your videos. Love 'em. Even though I'm not very familiar with the area at all.

I would kill to do connecting flights to Central and South America through Ontario Airport rather than LAX. Every single time I'm forced to go through that horrendous, exhaust filled mess, I die a little inside. Every time I've transferred through LAX, I've had a truly awful experience, especially when spending an 90 minutes to go through customs. It's so bad that I specifically try to fly through DFW or MIA whenever I go to Peru or Costa Rica, as they actually function as indented.

truly incredible work awesome job on this

Excellent work !!! So thorough, so logical. Thank you for making this.

Back in the ‘70s, there was an Air National Guard detachment stationed at ONT. We used to go to the east end of the runway (you could do that back then) and watch the ANG conduct flight operations at night. The ANG that was stationed there flew F-4 Phamtoms and they were fun watch take off. That engine sound and the after burners were just “bitchin” to watch. Gave me chills every time. Ahh, memories!

I appreciate all of your videos. As a Transit Civil Engineer your videos are amazing and really help educate the public, support future expansion funding, and make my day. Thank you for all your hard work.

I believe "Terminal 1" counts as the old original (half-outdoor) terminal, now disused except for those two international arrival-only gates. (Those gates were a "modern" extension to the original building because they had jetways. The old ONT was mostly air stairs.) So any future terminals built east of T4 would presumably continue the sequential numbering, becoming T5 or T6. In addition, if they added a fourth terminal, it as likely they would redevelop T1 [raze, then build new] as build east of T4. While we are contemplating westward extensions of your hypothetical APM toward the actual convention center, at least two other possible destinations merit consideration. A cluster of hotels sit along Vineyard Ave, which was the airport entrance before T2 and T4 opened. The hypothetical route toward the convention center may as well see if it can serve several with an intermediate stop. More recently, the city added a 12,000 seat arena. I am thinking it's not that much farther. Could be wrong.

I know you speak as an LA local but have you ever thought of making a video on the future of San Diego? Biased bc Im from there but just curious

As someone who has always lived close to Ont, it is an amazing and easy airport. I have always been under the impression that 4 terminals was always them plan since the terminals are named 2 and 4 right now with the between them like you suggested and one being where the original terminals were.

Yay more Riverside line slander! I'm imagining the tunnel to Mt SAC college having an elevator that drops like 10 stories to reach the platform from their new transit center.

I live less than 9 miles south of Ontario International Airport, and it has been a Godsent for me! I can't remember the last time I flew out of Los Angeles International Airport, and I hope to keep it that way! I normally fly domestically out of Ontario to locations such as Denver, Hawaii, Florida, and Las Vegas, however, in 2018, China Airlines started a daily flight to Asia out of Ontario! This was the icing on the cake!! Before China Airlines made its presence in Ontario, I had to make that dreaded 1.5 hours to 2 hours car ride from the Ontario area to LAX to fly to Asia. Now, flying to Asia is like a car ride to the shopping mall! In fact, the Ontario Mills Mall is actually farther than my drive to Ontario Airport. When I was flying out of LAX, I had to burden my family members or friends for a ride to LAX but now, since Ontario Airport is literally down the street, I can affordably take an Uber to Ontario Airport to fly international destinations. OMG, flying back from Asia is awesome because China Airlines arrives alone and you get through customs and immigration so quickly! I have mixed emotions because I want to keep this hidden gem all to myself but I want this great airport to grow to meet its full potential!

Awesome video! As the main spotter for that airport, I am really glad it's starting to get notice.

i have lived in rancho cucamonga all my life and i am BEGGING for a crumb of public transit and walkable communities. when i used to live in europe and on my vacations in asia, i cry everytime i can walk out the door and be on some form of public transit. here, i have to drive an hour in any direction to get to somewhere i like being. with that said i am excited for the immense potential for the inland empire. it's a shitty place to be, for now, but its MY shitty place. i just dont wanna grow old and still have to rely on a car to get myself around, if thats the case then i'm moving elsewhere for quality of life.

I've only been to Ontario International once, and it was because I took Metrolink to Rancho Cucamonga to get to the Ontario Carvana to buy my car. But there's no bus lines that connect out there - except for the bus that goes to ONT. I took thwt express bus to terminal 1 and immediately walked on foot out of the airport and to the Carvana a mile or so away. There's no safe or demarkated pedestrian entrance or exit to ONT. So I had to jaywalk and step over landscaping to get out.

Your presentation style just kills as always

Great video as always! APM or the A Line suggestion: Also, I love the APM idea to connect the convention center, but I would actually do an extension from that rental center to the Toyota center and Ontario Mills mall, possibly. The issue is when we get to the Ontario Mills mall, we're halfway to the RC station. I'm not sure how to resolve this, but maybe that would be a better use for the A line extension, instead of terminating at the station, terminate at Ontario Mills or at the RC station. That way, you'd be able to access the convention center, ONT, the mall/Toyota center, and the RC station all on one line, likely running down Miliken Ave. One additional thought: ONT could relocate that hydrogen facility and Guasti road, build a very basic station there, and figure out a way to have Brightline terminate there, after running through their Rancho Cucamonga station. If they want a loop to RC, they could align a new track following the electric transmission corridor at Hyssop and 15. If I was the city of Ontario, I'd be looking really hard into getting Brightline to terminate and invest in real estate in the area north of the airport, via some sort of deal where ONT and the city of Ontario build station facilities for Brightline in exchange. If I was ONT, I'd also think about extending the runaways, especially the southern one, and closing off South Haven Avenue, too in terms of expanding the airport.

I freaking love your videos bro!

It's a great airport. I used to fly to and from my home in the San Gabriel valley to school on the east coast. I must've flown out of ONT several dozens of times. I went back there a couple of years ago and was surprised at the new facilities. I even went back and drove by the OLD terminal, with its outdoor baggage claims. I remember stepping off the airplane and the first thing was the powerful stink of the dairy farms and stock yards south of the airport. Always made me laugh: am I in Texas or California? It was also awesome to leave the east coast with its 20º F temperatures and arrive to a warm and sunny 70º F with green trees all around.

Came here for the Muck Tubes ( 21:25) and left very satisfied!!

Please do an update in regards to OC Public Transport :((

Excellent video!

I've flown out of ONT for maybe 10-15% of my flights. If it ever grows, I'll be happy for it. You've definitely made the most comprehensive video reflecting dreams of the Inland Empire---welcome to the dream. You can fly in anytime you like, but you can never leave!

Nick, this is extraordinary & visionary ...and also, all of those curves look *way* too sharp for any of the rail services being proposed. I can't help but grimace at the thought of Brightline trains trying to get around what's effectively a city street corner on those Arrow tracks, instead of just building a dedicated connection with kilometer-scale curve radii for reasonable station approach speeds (say, 100 km/h).

6:01 Except OAK is now San Francisco Bay Oakland International Airport

I propose they fast track the Los Angeles Union-Rancho Cucamunga California HSR project to ASAP because that would enable both HSR to Los Angeles-Ontario International Airport and L.A. Union Station to be connected to Las Vegas. And since the corridor is basically just getting electrified and double-tracked with grade separation without any crazy long or expensive tunnel sections lord knows SOME form of government could find the cash for it, especially if it was tied in with Metrolink electrification the same way the Caltrain line between San Francisco and San Jose is a joint effort that benefits both rail operators...

I love how well thought out everything is, from the alignments to the intermodal station! I wish my city had enough growth to consider this level of airport rapid transit service, but unfortunately even our airport bus line that runs seven times a day is on the chopping block. Keep up the great work!

best series on youtube

Love your videos!!

Someone needs to put this man on the CAHSR board

Ontario and John Wayne mad underrated airports

The funny thing is, given the extra time it takes the train to get from Upland to Rancho, the A Line extension would take exactly the same net amount of time as the shuttle.

I would totally vote for LA Imperial airport. People always get confused when I say I'm flying to Ontario, CA. They assume Ontario, Canada.

My only note on the Palmdale/Burbank question you brought up at the end is that you kinda made a big deal about how Burbank was capacity limited due to curfews and a limit on the number of gates back in Ep 2. As such with the HSR, you could argue that Palmdale could be a decent "remote" expansion plan for Burbank, allowing for more overall gates and capacity for northern LA County.

These videos are great mate. Just wasted way too much time when I’m suppose to working watching them

As a resident of the IE in San Bernardino. I whole heartly love everything about this. As a local I wish there would be rail connections with CSUSB, UCR, LLU and URedlands. We ride transit more than anyone and all the major transit misses these spots entirely-only bus connections for thousands of students. Also, San Bernardino has huge issues with raves at the orange show, and the arrow line missed a huge change to divert traffic by connecting the arrow line into the Orange show. Love to see this potential

39:48 The heavy rail junction you mention here is actually already mostly built out, in the same way the C/K junction near LAX was when the C Line was originally built. Not that it would make an extension all the way to Mt. SAC make any more sense but something to keep in mind for any future planning.

Btw I just discovered you with this video and I already love your work✌

Whatever your proposal also make LAX easier to access for people in SGV&IE

5:52 ‘’London’’ Oxford airport as well! Great video btw

As a (very) local resident, transit fan, and user of ONT, I greatly enjoyed and appreciated this deep dive. The potential has always been evident but to see it fleshed out got me really excited. It would be a dream come true to have an A-Line extension at the bare minimum.

from the ie, would hate los angeles imperial airport lol, but i appreciate the effort. Ontario definitely needs an update to its terminals though as they’re stuck in 2003.

I don't know how much traffic the lines get but consider that the upper practical limit for intercity/hsr type service (eg 2 narrow doors per 25m car and heavy luggage) is 8 trains per hour per platform track. And that is already stretching it. So if both regional and hsr tracks are to be used to capacity 2 platform tracks per direction each will be necessary at least. With provisions for those the station should be planned for 8 heavy rail tracks in addition to LRT, BRT and rideshare/taxi.

I literally grew up at ONT from the 70s to 90s. My dad was part of the original joint police/fire operation controlled by LAX. I used to travel regularly from ONT to wherever I needed to go (I grew up in Ontario and went to college at Redlands) using its original tiny terminal on the west end. I now live in Sacramento and it's really unfortunate that the terrible traffic in SoCal makes Long Beach and Burbank my current choices. Burbank actually provides a compelling example of what's possible, almost by accident. I land at the airport, walk across the street, grab a 20-minute train for about $7, and I'm in downtown LA's central rain terminal. Contrary to popular belief, I can literally get all over LA without car using this strategy. ONT is still suffering from the underutilization and mistreatment under its LAX ownership, and the parochial disrespect of the Inland Empire as a vast wasteland east of LA. Its potential has also been exacerbated by the foolish decision (in my opinion) of California's HSR project to emphasize a connection between LA and San Francisco, something nobody needs, rather than Las Vegas, San Diego, LA and Sacramento, the areas with the most projected need for housing and economic activity involving physical goods. Your video really demonstrates something I was corrected on early in my government career - letting reason and logic creep into your decision making. A funny example of this is the way ONT's second runway was built - LAX said no, and the ONT folks simply ignored them and built it guerrilla-style without any permission. I have no idea how they pulled it off but my dad was quite proud...he and fellow firefighters were out there pouring concrete themselves, LOL.

Lost my mind at the Tesla tunnel I wish the inland empire would stop treating itself like a group of small towns and start investing in proper rail and rapid transit projects

I have used the visitor pass to greet family at the gate. It was super easy to get and very quick. FYI it is also available at Sea-Tac

What is crazy is that an airport like Porto airport has double the movements and 15 million passengers with one runway alone and Ontario has talks about getting a third runway despite having half of operations and passengers

Never what I would have thought Ontario airport would behere

Thanks for this informative journey. Where are you from by the way?

Just found this channel, what program do you use to make these videos

As a resident and frequent flyer for ONT. the one thing that baffles me is that for an international airport there is only like two restrooms with one stall for the men it would be nice to not be waiting in a queue after hours of waiting

34:50 I don't get it, why not have the Las Vegas and San Diego HSR lines branch off to the East of ONT instead? (In other words -> I get why they would want Rancho Cucamonga as a terminal in a 1st phase, but why not disconnect it in a 2nd phase? That way Ontario stn would eventually take a ~similar role to that of e g the Amsterdam airport stn)

ONT has the potential, we must get them the infrastructure they need

Ok, commenting as I watch this. No more name changes.

Every time I hear the word “Ontario”, I think of the Canadian Province.

ONT My Beloved, been using it for most of my travels since I was born

When’s the Bay Area or San Diego series coming? Lol jk this has been fun

Orange county next!

This is magnificent. Can LA Metro hire you? Would love to see a SAN episode :)

Fun fact: a few years ago, someone tried to book a business trip for me from Toronto to San Fransisco, but booked Ontario (ONT) to SF instead. I 100% agree with the name change.

Nice to know. I fly off ONT a lot since I am closer to it than LAX.

Another great video! Curious why you chose the land north of the tracks for the intermodal station rather than the existing surface parking lot (which could be moved to a smaller footprint multi story garage). Also, assuming people would walk from the station to the eastern terminal before the APM is built is a bit of a stretch. When we were building the terminals we had golf buggies to get around because everything was so far apart, like a mile from end to end (and it’s crazy hot in the summer). Suppose there could be a shuttle bus… or free golf carts!!

Bro went off