Category Archives: Go Metro

general Go Metro

Rose Queen and Royal Court greet passengers on the Expo Line

Posted by

Photo by Luis Inzunza/Metro

Photos by Luis Inzunza/Metro

This morning, Rose Queen Vanessa Natalie Manjarrez and Rose Princesses Kate Alice Benuska, Tracy Italia Cresta, Victoria Sophia McGregor, Nicole Cherie Nelam, Sonia Marie Shenoi and Madison Michelle Barili Teodo took a ride on the Expo Line to promote Metro services to the 2013 Tournament of Roses events.

Metro is the best way to get to Pasadena for the Tournament of Roses parade, the Rose Bowl game and post-parade float-viewing at Victory Park. Metro will be running 24 hours on New Year’s Eve for people heading to New Year’s festivities, and the rides between 9 p.m. and 2 a.m. will be free.

Metro Deputy Chief Operations Officer Debra Johnson reminded everyone to stay safe and emphasized a few key points:

  • don’t walk on or near the train tracks
  • look carefully for trains coming from both directions
  • always wait for rail crossing gates to close and reopen before crossing an intersection
  • do not bring any flammable liquids, barbeques, fold-out chairs, ladders, large ice chests or coolers onboard trains

Two more pictures from this morning after the jump.

Continue reading →

Go Metrolink to Tournament of Roses and Rose Bowl game

Posted by

Here’s the news release from Metrolink:

Take Metrolink, Metro to 2013 Tournament of Roses® celebrations

Limited service offered on Christmas Day, modified schedule offered on New Year’s Day

LOS ANGELES - Metrolink will operate a Sunday schedule on the San Bernardino and Antelope Valley lines on Christmas Day, Tuesday, Dec. 25.

Metrolink will operate a modified schedule on New Year’s Day, Tuesday, Jan. 1, which will allow people to attend the 2013 Tournament of Roses Parade® celebrations in Pasadena.

The 124th Rose Parade®, themed “Oh, the Places You’ll Go!,” will feature floral floats, equestrian units and marching bands.

To serve the Rose Parade on New Year’s Day, the first train on Metrolink’s San Bernardino Line will operate a modified Sunday schedule, departing Riverside-Downtown at 5:30 a.m. and San Bernardino at 6:05 a.m. making all station stops. Train 349 will arrive at L.A. Union Station at 7:35 a.m.

From L.A. Union Station, passengers can transfer without additional charge to the Metro Gold Line and get off at the Del Mar, Memorial Park, Lake or Allen stations. The parade route is just a short walk from the stations.

Metrolink passengers going to the 99th Rose Bowl Game® between Wisconsin and Stanford can take the Gold Line from L.A. Union Station, stopping at the Memorial Park Station in Pasadena. Free shuttles to the stadium will be available.

For details on Metrolink’s holiday service, please visitwww.metrolinktrains.com.

ABOUT METROLINK (www.metrolinktrains.com)

Metrolink is Southern California’s regional commuter rail service in its 20th year of operation. The Southern California Regional Rail Authority (SCRRA), a joint powers authority made up of an 11-member board representing the transportation commissions of Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura counties, governs the service. Metrolink operates seven routes through a six-county, 512 route-mile network. Metrolink is the third largest commuter rail agency in the United States based on directional route miles and the seventh largest based on annual ridership.

###

Oh, the places you’ll go…with Metro (and Metrolink)

Posted by
Photo from Tournament of Roses Official Facebook

Photo from Tournament of Roses Official Facebook

Avoid paying for parking and crazy traffic by going Metro to the Tournament of Roses or the Rose Bowl game on New Year’s Day. The Metro Gold Line has four station stops near the parade route in Pasadena. Free shuttles to the Rose Bowl leave from the Parsons parking lot located just three blocks from the Gold Line Memorial Park Station. 

Metrolink’s San Bernardino Line will provide additional service to help people get to Union Station, where they can connect to the Gold Line.

The full press release from Metro with parade and game times and service info is after the jump.

Continue reading →

Go Metro to Donny and Marie – Christmas in Los Angeles

Posted by

Join Donny and Marie Osmond at the Pantages Theatre to celebrate the holiday season. It will be the first time the iconic duo have shared the spotlight at Pantages. They’ll be performing from Dec. 4 through Dec. 23 with shows at 8 p.m. from Tuesdays to Fridays, 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. on Saturdays and at 1 p.m. on Sundays. Tickets start at $25.

The Osmonds are also partnering with Metro on an exclusive Destination Discount. Go Metro to the shows and receive a free gift (while supplies last). Show your valid TAP card, Metro employee ID or LA County employee ID at the merchandise counter in the theatre lobby and receive a show poster.  The first lucky 20 people to redeem this will receive a personally autographed poster by Donny and Marie.

The Pantages Theatre is located across the street from the Metro Red Line Hollywood/Vine Station. Metro Bus 180, 212 and Rapid 780 also stop nearby. Visit Trip Planner for more routes and connections.

Pay your Metro Rail fare using tokens

Posted by

Hat tip to L.A. Streetsblog’s Dana Gabbard for a post asking a question we get occasionally: can tokens still be used to pay Metro fares at ticket machines?

The answer is yes, as the following plucked from the Metro website explains:

If you don’t have a TAP card:

  1. Push button A – “Purchase new TAP card + fare”
    (If you don’t see this choice, press “CANCEL” before beginning.)
  2. Push button F – “TAP ($1 fee) and Metro Pass”
  3. Push button C – “Metro Rail 1-Ride”
  4. Insert – $1 in cash and 1 token.
  5. Take & tap – Take card from tray below and tap when entering system.

If you have a TAP card:

  1. Touch – Touch your card to the TAP target.
  2. Push button F – “Add Metro Pass”
  3. Push button C – “Metro Rail 1-Ride”
  4. Insert – 1 token.
  5. Touch – Touch card to TAP target again to load fare.
  6. Tap – Tap when entering system.

Go Metro to UCLA and USC football today

Posted by

It’s a b-i-g day for college football in the Southland with No. 17 UCLA hosting No. 8 Stanford at the Rose Bowl at 3:30 p.m. and then USC taking on No. 1 Notre Dame at 5 p.m. at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

In other words, there’s going to be a lot of traffic out there with huge crowds at both games, which will have implications on the Bowl Championship Series standings.

The Gold Line light rail is an easy way to reach the Rose Bowl. Exit at the Memorial Park Station in Old Pasadena, turn right on Holly Street and walk three blocks west to the free bus shuttles to the stadium from the Parsons Engineering parking lot.

The Expo Line light rail has three stations near the Coliseum. Here’s a complete page on the Metro website explaining all the particulars about getting to the game.


Go Metro to the East LA Safe Connections Festival

Posted by

This Saturday, Nov. 17, take the Gold Line to the East LA Civic Center for the East LA Safe Connections Festival. The free community event will take place from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and features safety courses, workshops and live entertainment. East LA residents can also provide input on neighborhood improvements during the community open house.

This is the first of two community events for the Metro Gold Line Eastside Station Access Project, a Measure R project that will provide $9 million worth of improvements. The full press release from Metro is after the jump.

Continue reading →

Metro running enhanced service for HARD Day of the Dead

Posted by

 

Going to HARD Day of the Dead? Plan on going Metro. The music extravaganza is taking place Saturday, November 3 at the LA State Historic Park, conveniently near the Gold Line Chinatown Station. The fun starts at 6 p.m. and lasts until 2 a.m.

Here are few tips for Metro riders going to the event.

  • All concert goers ride FREE to the event ONLY if possessing their event ticket or wristband.
  • Last Gold Line trains to Pasadena and East LA will depart Chinatown Station exactly 30 minutes after conclusion of the event.
  • Last Red Line train to North Hollywood will hold for the last Gold Line from Chinatown and depart Union Station approximately 40 minutes after conclusion of the event.
    • All further connections from this trip will be held for passengers destined to Blue, Expo, Green, or Orange Line.
  • Full platform length trains will be running on both Red & Gold Lines to provide extra capacity.  Please use entire platform length when boarding.
  • There will NOT be any extended hours beyond the regular schedule for the Silver Line. However, Foothill Transit’s Silver Streak to El Monte provides 24-hour service.

Ride Expo Line to Endeavour exhibition

Posted by

Pick up one of these babies from the ExploraStore at the CSC. Go Metro to get a 10% discount. Photo by waltarrrrr via Flickr Creative Commons

Endeavour opens to the public tomorrow at the California Science Center. Let the Expo Line be your ride there! Not only will you save parking money, you’ll be able to get a 10% discount at the ExploraStore by showing your valid TAP card, which will come in handy for all those Endeavour souvenirs.

The California Science Center is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. Timed tickets are required to see the Endeavour Space Shuttle. The best option is to purchase tickets in advance online; tickets are free but there is a $2 service charge. Make your Endeavour visit part of a whole-day Expo Park event. There are plenty of other exhibits to check out at the CSC, including Cleopatra - discounted tickets available if you go Metro - and great IMAX movies. And the Natural History Museum and African American Museum are both right next door.

Both Expo Park/USC Station and Expo/Vermont Station will drop you off conveniently close to Expo Park. The Expo Line connects with the Blue, Red and Purple lines at 7th/Metro. Check Trip Planner for more connections.

It's story time for adults this weekend at USC

Posted by

USC Doheny Library. Photo by Kansas Sebastian via Flickr

Love a great story? L.A. is full of them and many will be revealed this Saturday at USC as “L.A. As Subject,” the Los Angeles Archives Bazaar, offers unprecedented access to more than 80 collections of papers, books and other material.

Documentary filmmakers, students, journalists, researchers and casual history buffs interested in L.A.stories will discover them through these seldom seen resources Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in USC’s Doheny Library, a short walk from the Metro Expo Line Expo Park/USC Station.

In addition to archived material not usually available to the public, there will be panel discussions, including a look at “CSI Los Angeles: Archival Case Study Investigations” where forensics meet research; the history of Los Angeles in vintage postcards; Southern California ranchos and homesteads featuring speakers from Pio Pico State Historic Park, Rancho Los Cerritos and the Homestead Museum and Car Culture Los Angeles.

Large institutions such as the Getty Research Institute, Autry National Center of the American West, the California Historical Society, the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County and several UCLA libraries will show items from their libraries, archives and museums.

Other organizations, including Friends of Greystone Mansion in Beverly Hills, the Writers Guild Foundation Library & Archive, Southern California Genealogical Society, ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives and, of course, the Metro Transportation Library & Archive, will offer access to documents telling stories of their respective topics.

Save time and money by taking the Expo Line to Expo Park/USC Station for “LA as Subject.” For more information on the event go to the Metro Library’s Primary Resources blog.