RIP People Movers of IAD

I have always preferred Dulles International Airport above all other DC area airports.  Dulles is ten minutes from where I currently live; however, even when I was inside the Beltway, it was my airport of choice.  The Toll Road makes it easily accessible, the parking is ample, and the architecture of the main terminal is breathtaking on the horizon.

I even loved those Mobile Lounges, a.k.a. People Movers.  Journeys originating and ending at IAD included a free ride to and from the terminals where airplanes were parked.  Those lumbering behemoth vehicles criss-crossed the airport grounds, delivering passengers here and there.  Now those People Movers are going the way of the dodo, replaced by the sleek AeroTrain.  Last week, the AeroTrain became operational after 15 years of planning and construction.  The AeroTrain will undoubtedly make the transition from security check-in to aircraft boarding smoother, once the glitches get ironed out.

I've heard many a traveler curse the Mobile Lounges as a stupid way to transport passengers to their gates.  For me, growing up in the DC area and traveling in and out of Dulles, the People Movers were simply the way it was.  Other airports had trains, buses, or moving walkways.  Some had virtually nothing; passengers were expected to use their feet and hoof it.  I simply accepted the People Movers as the way of life at Dulles.

So now I must re-adjust my expectations for being transported to and from my gate at Dulles Airport.  No longer will I have that slow ride before boarding an aircraft, in which I contemplate my agenda and triple-check my boarding passes and passport.  And no longer will there be one more leg to the trip after de-planing at Dulles--the crawling People Mover to the baggage carousels, the anxiety in preparing for return to normal life.

Instead, I shall be transported briskly to and from my gate, if I choose to take the AeroTrain.  Not much time to sit and think, wait and anticipate.

People Movers, thanks for your service.  You shall be missed...at least by me.

Original DC Metro Moms post.

Michelle blogs at Wife and Mommy about such profound things as People Movers, or whatever else strikes her fancy.