Category Archives: Go Metro

general Go Metro

Go Metro to see Janelle Monáe in concert at Club Nokia tonight

Posted by

 

Social Media Week Los Angeles started yesterday in Hollywood (who else went? wasn’t it just thrilling?), but tonight’s event takes place in downtown LA at Club Nokia.

Go see Janelle Monáe’s free concert at 7:30 p.m. To get your ticket to the show, click here and tell Nokia and SMWLA which song you think belongs on the ultimate “Social Playlist” that will be played by a DJ at the show. Remember to enter your information, and you’re on the list.

Go Metro and get a VIP Pit Pass. Just show your TAP card at the door to receive the pass. The offer is only good for the first 25 registered attendees to show up, so get there early. The Blue and Expo line’s Pico station is a short walk from L.A. Live and Club Nokia.

Metrolink adding service between L.A. and Chatsworth during 405 closure

Posted by

Here's the news release from Metrolink, the commuter rail agency partially funded by Metro:

Los Angeles – Metrolink is adding seven round-trips on its Ventura County line, between Los Angeles and Chatsworth, to provide Southern Californians with more public transportation options during the second closure of Interstate 405. This service is in addition to regularly-scheduled trains on the Antelope Valley, Orange County, Inland Empire-Orange County and San Bernardino lines. Metrolink's popular $10 Weekend Pass provides riders unlimited system-wide travel privileges from Friday at 7 p.m. until the last train on Sunday night.

Special Ventura County Service will operate Chatsworth to Los Angeles Union Station, with stops in between at Glendale, Downtown Burbank, Burbank – Bob Hope Airport, Van Nuys and Northridge.

During the first closure of the 405, Metrolink experienced record weekend ridership and weekend pass sales. This year, there are even more reasons to ride Metrolink. Metrolink and Los Angeles World Airports have a partnership that allows Metrolink Monthly Passholders with a boarding pass to ride the Flyaway for free on the day of their flight. Additionally, Metrolink recently launched a retention program in line with the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority's (Metro) “Eat, Shop, and Play Locally” theme that allows partnering businesses to offer discounts to Metrolink riders. This allows Metrolink to support local businesses, while rewarding the loyalty of valued customers. Please visit www.metrolinktrains.com/rewards for a list of participating businesses.

Riders can also connect to Metro buses and light rail at no additional charge to access destinations along their extensive network. To view all of Metro's special destination discounts for the Carmageddon Weekend and other event information available, please visit metro.net/405.

Metrolink's Carmageddon weekend schedule can be found below or online at www.metrolinktrains.com.

 


Go Metro to see to what could possibly be the coolest thing ever: the Space Shuttle Endeavour riding piggyback over the L.A. metro area!

Posted by

Photo: NASA

The above photo was taken in Houston on Wednesday. And that’s what we’re going to be treated to on Friday morning in the L.A. area. From NASA:

Any time after 11:30 a.m., watch for flyovers of Endeavour passing landmarks such as the California Science Center, Columbia Memorial Space Center, Disneyland, The Getty Center, Griffith Observatory, Los Angeles City Hall, the Long Beach Aquarium of the Pacific, Malibu Beach, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the Queen Mary, Universal Studios and Venice Beach. Endeavour will land about 12:45 p.m., at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) .

During the four-and-a-half hour flight, social media users are encouraged to share their Endeavour sightings using the hashtags #spottheshuttle and #OV105, Endeavour’s vehicle designation.

Many of these locations are easily accessed on the Metro system — the Expo Line serves the California Science Center, the Red Line stops at Universal City, the Blue Line will take you to downtown Long Beach for views of the waterfront, among others and the Red/Purple Line, Gold Line, Expo and Blue lines all serve downtown L.A. — where tall buildings should provide a view.

Exact details of the flight plan are not being released ahead of time. We do know that the shuttle carrier will be flying low — likely below 2,000 feet. Some other places that could be good viewing spots are elevated rail stations on the Expo Line. The area around the Rose Bowl (a short bike ride from the Gold Line’s Memorial Park station) could also be good for the JPL flyover.

If you get some good photos of the Shuttle from Metro, please email them to us at sourcemetro@gmail.com and we’ll gladly post here. Or tweet them to us at our @metrolosangeles handle. Should be a really great day for the region.

 


Go Metro to see the Space Shuttle Endeavour flyover on Friday!

Posted by

Photo: NASA/Bill Ingalls.

The photo was taken Monday at Cape Canaveral in Florida — the Endeavour and the Shuttle Aircraft Carrier are due to leave for the first leg of the trip to Los Angeles at 7:15 a.m. on Wednesday.

The Endeavour will spend Wednesday night in Houston and then arrive on Thursday at the Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base. On Friday, the Endeavour will depart early in the morning for Northern California and then arrive back in Southern California about 10:30 a.m. with planned low altitude flights over several local landmarks, including the Malibu area, Getty Center, the Griffith Observatory, Disneyland, the California Science Center in Exposition Park and Los Angeles International Airport, reports the L.A. Times.

The shuttle is due to arrive at LAX about 11 a.m. Friday.

The easiest access point on the Metro system would be to take the Expo Line to the USC/Expo Park station and stake out a spot in the park. The Los Angeles City Hall observation tower is also near the Red/Purple Line Civic Center station and the Gold Line’s Little Tokyo station — but I’m not sure how good views will be from there. The Griffith Observator seems to be a good vantage point but unfortunately there is no bus shuttle service there on weekdays.

Anyone else out there have some good ideas? Brainstorm please. Sounds like NASA is going to release some more info on Wednesday.

Go Metro to No. 22-ranked UCLA football at the Rose Bowl

Posted by

Photo by rocor, via Flickr creative commons.

Heads up, Bruin fans: Metro is adding extra Gold Line service Saturday night to help fans reach the Dodgers game at 7 p.m. and UCLA's tilt against Houston at 7:30 p.m. at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena.

Dodger fans can take the Dodger Stadium Express for free from Union Station with a game ticket. Click here for all the details about where to find the bus.

UCLA fans can take the Gold Line to the Memorial Park station in Old Town. After exiting the station, turn right and walk two blocks east down Holly Street to the Parsons parking lot, where you can catch a free shuttle run by Foothill Transit to the Rose Bowl — the buses leave from the Pasadena Avenue side of the lot. Click here for more info on the shuttle.

The Bruins are ranked 22nd in the AP national poll after wins over Rice and Nebraska. The Dodgers have won three of their last 10 — that's pretty good, right? — and are trying to claw their way into the wild card playoff game.

 


Go Metro to live music: The Book of Mormon

Posted by


“Hello!” the opening number from The Book of Mormon.

Avoid the Hollywood parking hassle and Go Metro to the Tony Award-winning musical The Book of Mormon at The Pantages Theatre now through November 25! It just makes sense: The Pantages is located directly across the street from the Hollywood / Vine Red Line Station.

Continue reading →

About 8,000 people rode Expo Line to USC game on Saturday

Posted by

Fans en route to the USC game on Saturday on the Expo Line. Photo by Marc Littman/Metro.

The ridership numbers from Metro are in and here’s the skinny: an estimated 8,000 people rode the Expo Line on Saturday to and from USC’s home opener against the University of Hawaii at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

In addition, Metro estimates that 4,000 to 6,000 of those fans reached or traveled from the Expo Line via other Metro buses or trains. In total, there were about 22,000 boardings on Metro on Saturday related to the game.

USC is listing the attendance at the game at 93,607, which means that about 8.5 percent of those who went to the game were delivered there by the Expo Line.

The next USC home game is Saturday, Sept. 22, against Cal. The game time has yet to be announced.

Your playbook for taking Metro to USC football

Posted by

Tomorrow is a big — no make that huge — day for the Expo Line. The University of Southern California is opening its football season at the L.A. Memorial Coliseum as the number one ranked team in the country and the game against Hawaii is the first chance for Expo to take people to the game and avoid the usual traffic quagmire. (News release and video here).

Below you will find a very good guide put together showing how to take Metro trains and/or buses to reach the Coliseum from different parts of Los Angeles County (pdf here).

There is free or paid parking at a number of Metro Rail stations. Here's the link to parking info for each line. In addition, there are numerous public and private parking lots and garages near Metro Rail in Culver City (Expo Line), Hollywood (Red Line), Old Town Pasadena (Gold Line), Long Beach (Blue Line) and downtown Los Angeles (Red, Purple, Blue and Expo lines). There is also public parking at Union Station for $6 a day.

For those concerned that transit could put a crimp in their ability to tailgate, here's an idea: grab some food to go, arrive early and stake out a picnic spot in Exposition Park or on USC's campus. There's no eating or drinking on Metro trains or buses — it's the best way to keep them clean — but you can bring food in a bag.

Finally, give yourself a few extra minutes and load enough money to cover the cost of your fare on your way to the game; it will make leaving the game easier. It's obviously a big game for the Trojans for a whole lot of reasons and a huge crowd is expected. There will be significantly more trains running than usual, but there could still be lines, particularly after the game when everyone tries to head home at once. Metro will do its best to get everyone home safely and quickly.

Go Metro Guide to USC Football

 

Go Metro to USC Football this season

Posted by

 

The first USC home game is this Saturday and Metro and USC are hoping lots of potential drivers abandon their cars and take the new Expo Line (via other Metro bus and rail) to this game and others. Not only is it the green way to travel, it will take the pressure off hunting for a parking space since Saturday's game is already sold out. Here's a release from this morning's press event at USC.

Steve Lopes, USC Senior Associate Athletic Director, and Metro CEO Art Leahy were joined today by members of the USC Song Girls and the Spirit of Troy band for a pep rally announcing enhanced service to University of Southern California home games this season. The first game — this Saturday, Sept. 1 at the L.A. Memorial Coliseum — is sold out, which means 92,000 fans could be searching for parking.

Unless they Go Metro. The morning pep rally at Pardee Plaza on the USC campus celebrated the first season of Expo Line service to Trojan home games. Metro's new Expo Line is the perfect vehicle for getting to the games since two stations — Expo/Vermont and Expo Park/USC — serve the university. And game day enhanced service, which includes “event guides” to answer questions, has been designed to make it easy for fans to avoid traffic and parking hassles while taking Expo to the games.

“We want potential new riders to know that Metro staff will be on hand to help riders successfully navigate the system on game days,” said Metro CEO and USC graduate Art Leahy. “And we're adding more trains to make sure travel is smooth. Whether riders are carrying a picnic basket or not, we know they'll see that this new way to the games is convenient and enjoyable. And you don't have to worry about driving home after a long day.”

Continue reading →

Take Metrolink to the Los Angeles County Fair

Posted by

Here's the news release from Metrolink, the regional commuter rail agency funded in part by Metro:

LOS ANGELES – For the 20th consecutive year, Metrolink will offer safe, affordable service directly to the Los Angeles County Fair. On Saturdays and Sundays throughout the month of September, Metrolink's San Bernardino Line trains will add a special stop at the Pomona Fairplex after 9:30 a.m. A free shuttle will transport passengers to the main entrance.

Metrolink riders with a monthly pass can ride all Metrolink trains at no additional cost on the weekends. Others can take advantage of the $10 Weekend Pass, which allows them to ride Metrolink trains all weekend long for one low fare. Riders can transfer to and from other Metrolink lines, as well as Metro rail and most buses with the $10 Weekend Pass. The Weekend Pass is valid from 7 p.m. on Friday until 11:59 p.m. on Sunday for system-wide travel. The weekend pass can be purchased at Metrolink ticket vending machines after 7 p.m. on Friday.

Continue reading →