The YouTuber Who Exposed the LAX People Mover Fiasco

When plans for an LAX people mover were announced in 2018, Angelenos released a collective sigh of relief. The city’s blue-chip airport was finally being brought into the 21st century, with the transit infrastructure it deserved. The sleek, driverless, elevated train would connect passengers to every terminal from an off-site parking garage and subway station, relieving millions of yearly passengers from the hell of driving through the airport’s infamous arrivals/departures horseshoe and the soul-sucking quagmire that is the LAX-it ride-sharing lot. The project was estimated to cost about $1.9 billion and open in 2023 — well ahead of L.A.’s turn to host the World Cup and Summer Olympics. By 2024, the project was allegedly 97 percent complete … and then it went silent. Plenty of Angelenos have since wondered what’s going on with the people mover, but mainstream media coverage provided few answers. Then Nick Andert got ahold of the story. Andert is something of a celebrity in the world of L.A. public transit. By day, he is a freelance editor (Ugly Delicious, 30 for 30, Abstract: The Art of Design) and produces documentaries under Delta V, the production company he co-founded. In his free time, Andert moonlights as Nandert on YouTube, where his channel’s videos are sacred texts for L.A. public transit geeks, extolled by Redditors and regularly cited by L.A. city councilmembers and L.A. Metro’s board members alike. He even had a recent public squabble with Mayor Karen Bass over delays to the Metro K Line extension. So, when he published his exposé video — “The REAL Story Behind the LAX People Mover Fiasco” — earlier this summer, it was a big deal. The LAX Skylink project Jacob Carl Greenlund/LAWA I met Andert on a recent afternoon to discuss the video. Initially, he was apprehensive, fearing the attention would bring a lawsuit against him by the parties he takes aim at, which are some of the largest construction firms in the world (Fluor, Alstom, Parsons). When his tensions eased somewhat, we agreed to meet for a subway ride from his home station at Wilshire/La Brea. Andert arrived on his bike. The YouTuber explained that he initially waffled on whether to make the LAX video at all. He figured, optimistically, that the people mover was set to open soon anyway, so why bother? But something kept nagging him, particularly the hundreds of disputes filed between the airport and LINXS (the consortium of contractors building the people mover) and the fact that the mediator sided with LINXS in every case he could find. “I wasn’t getting a good understanding of why these disputes were happening, and I wanted to dig into it more,” Andert continues. When he stumbled onto a grand jury report from the L.A. County Superior Court, which investigated the project in 2024, he was shocked that he had never heard of it and fell down a rabbit hole of research. “I was surprised that it was just such brazen and unethical behavior from the contractors,” he says. Maybe it wasn’t Chinatown, but it seemed gargantuan sums of public money were quietly being funneled into the pockets of a few mega firms. What Andert argues in his video is that LINXS has effectively ransomed LAX to the tune of $880 million — so far — to complete the supposedly less than 3 percent that remains to be built on the project. His conclusion, which he insists are “just my opinions,” is backed up by the grand jury report that determined “the Contractor leveraged the change order process” — usually reserved to accommodate minor redesigns or delays in the project — “by implicitly holding out the threat of litigation to force LAWA [Los Angeles World Airports] to agree to the change orders, and to get the project completed in time for the high profile events so as not to embarrass the City.” No recommendations were made off the grand jury report, which appears to be solely a fact-finding exercise by L.A. County. The LAX auxiliary curbs project Jacob Carl Greenlund/LAWA Shortly after the video published, LINXS sued LAWA alleging multiple breaches of contract. “After extensive good-faith efforts over the past two years failed to resolve these issues directly and amicably with LAWA, the applicable statute of limitations required LINXS to file this complaint to preserve its legal rights,” a LINXS spokesperson tells THR, adding that they remain committed to “successfully deliver” the people mover. With his video, Andert was able to do something that incremental reporting by local news outlets could not — get people to care. “The video broke containment,” Andert says. The exposé got more than 116,000 clicks, nearly triple his normal view count, in less than a month and has quickly spread across social media, where influencers discuss Andert’s findings with their thousands of followers. Nithya Raman, the L.A. city councilmember and mayoral candidate, tells THR that she is a fan of Andert’s videos: “I really appreciate how he’s raised awareness about the problems that have led to the LAX people mover’s delays and massive cost overruns.” YouTuber Nick Andert Courtesy of Subject Andert says he was encouraged by the response. “I’ve had a reporter contact me who’s doing more investigative reporting on it after seeing the video,” Andert says, adding that LINXS has taken down its website amid the uptick in scrutiny about its role on the project. As we pull into the Wilshire/Fairfax station, I ask Andert if he thinks the LAX people mover will open this year, or even by the 2028 Olympics? He pauses: “I’m not holding my breath.” This story appeared in the Aug. 5 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.