Expo Line to open to Farmdale station and Culver City on June 20

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The Culver City station and adjacent parking lot, as seen this morning. Photo by Anna Chen/Metro.

Here is the news release from Metro:

Los Angeles Mayor and Metro Board Chair Antonio Villaraigosa announced today that Metro will officially open to the public both the Culver City Station and the Farmdale Station along the recently opened Metro Expo Line on Wednesday, June 20 at 12 noon.

​In addition, it was announced that patrons boarding trains at both the Farmdale and Culver City Station will receive free passes to use the Expo Line on June 20.

​“The opening of the Culver City and Farmdale stations completes the first phase of the Expo line, connecting Angelenos from the Westside to Downtown and beyond,” said Mayor Villaraigosa. “We are answering the call from voters to provide more transit options and creating career opportunities for Angelenos in the process.”

​The public opening of the Culver City Station coincides with Downtown Culver City’s Third Wednesday “Summer Solstice” Happy Hour which features special offers and free goodies from over 25 participating businesses throughout the downtown area, as well as outdoor entertainment and activities. The event takes place every third Wednesday of the month from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. in beautiful downtown Culver City.

The public is encouraged to take advantage of the opening of the Culver City Station and take the Metro Expo Line, in a short walking distance to the event, to sample artisanal cuisine and cocktails, shop at unique boutiques, view art, and enjoy a variety of live music and entertainment. For a complete list of freebies, offers, discounts and entertainment, visit www.downtownculvercity.com.

​“The opening of the Culver City station is a tremendous milestone in the construction of the Expo Line from downtown Los Angeles to Santa Monica,” said Culver City Mayor Andy Weissman. “We look forward to the Expo Line bringing much needed congestion relief to our region and providing an efficient new mode of public transportation to help commuters get from home to work, recreation and to school. We welcome the opportunity to bring more visitors to shop and to dine and to create a dynamic transit oriented hub at Washington/National as this exciting, eagerly awaited project comes on line to Culver City.”

Poised to open both stations along the Metro Expo Line, Metro over the next few weeks will continue to run test trains into the new Culver City Station located at Washington and National to ensure all systems are operating properly.​

​The segment of the Metro Expo Line operating from downtown Los Angeles to the La Cienega/Jefferson Station opened to the public on April 28. Trains have been bypassing the Farmdale Station adjacent to Dorsey High School going only as far as the station at La Cienega and Jefferson. With the opening of the Farmdale Station, students attending Dorsey High School will have an additional transportation alternative by using the new Metro Expo Line.

​Phase I of the Metro Expo Line is a new $932 million, 8.6-mile light rail line from downtown Los Angeles to Culver City. It has 12 stations with two stations shared with the Metro Blue Line. The new light rail line serves USC, Exposition Park, The Mid-City communities, the Crenshaw District and Culver City.

​Phase II of the Metro Expo Line, a $1.5 billion 6.6-mile extension from Culver City to Santa Monica, is funded under the Measure R half-cent sale tax initiative approved by the voters in 2008. Phase II will have seven stations serving West Los Angeles/Santa Monica and is expected to be completed in 2016.

​Both Phase I and II of the Metro Expo Line are being built by the Exposition Metro Line Construction Authority. Once completed, they are turned over to Metro to operate. For more information about the new Metro Expo Line, visit metro.net/expo or buildexpo.org.

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30 replies ›

  1. Amazing. I just checked the 733 rapid maps; that’s the rapid that goes from the beaches up and down Venice Blvd and into downtown LA.
    It drives right past the new Expo line at Venice and Robertson and doesn’t stop.
    With so many service changes I have no idea how connecting the 733 Rapid to the Expo line terminus got left out of the plans!

    Clearly they looked though the schedule because there are minor adjustments to each bus’s timing.

    To top it off, everyone who wants to continue westward after the Expo line needs to use the non-rapid 33. During Rush how the 33 bus is often standing room only and there are no service additions to be found.

    • Hi Dayle;

      For now, the 733 will stop at Venice and National, a short walk from the Expo station in Culver City. The bus stop will eventually be moved to Venice and Robertson — there are some construction issues on phase 2 of Expo Line that have prevented this from happening at the moment.

      Steve Hymon
      Editor, The Source

  2. Oh. Bus changes.
    I see the 730 is being eliminated. How can I get from the Culver City station to Venice Beach? (limited stops)

  6. I notice at the Culver City station the parking lot is completed but, it appears that another project is about to start on the property. Are the plans online for what will be built?

  7. @Luv LA65: As an old school bus rider (literally rode the RTD to college), I can tell you that the bus schedules print even a smaller percentage of the stops than the train schedules.

    BTW, I bet Luv LA65 is jonesing for the regional connector about now, with that Mt. Washington to Culver City commute.

  9. That photo is hilarious. Somewhere beyond a sea of free parking, there’s a slower way to get downtown than just staying in your car.

  11. Farmdale opening just after the end of the school year a coincidence? The students sure would have appreciated that station being open prior.

    • Hi Joe;

      I’m checking to see opening date for the bike path. I suspect it will be open by then — to my eye, it looks mostly complete. But I’m not The Decider in these matters. So let me check and I’ll try to put up a short post tomorrow a.m.

      Steve Hymon
      Editor, The Source

  13. Hi Steve, since your posting earlier is somewhat on the Gold Line, I just want to quickly point out about Mission Station. The platform signs and Metro Rail maps show that Mission Station has been renamed to “South Pasadena” but everything else still shows “Mission”, including train’s automated stop announcement, maps inside the trains, station pylons, etc. I hope it is only a matter of time to have them updated. Thanks!

  14. Thanks so much, Steve. Appreciate all your hard work on keeping the region informed.

  15. Hi Steve,

    Thanks for the clarification regarding the reason Culver City station isn’t open until noon on the 20th.

    Is there a reason Farmdale won’t be opening until noon? Is there a chance it will be open the morning of the 20th?

    • No ceremony at Farmdale as far as I know, but I think the intention — until I hear otherwise — is to open both stations at the same time. Sorry!

      Steve Hymon
      Editor, The Source

  17. Upon hearing this great news, I went to check the train schedules to plan my commute from Mt. Washington to Culver City. When I went to get the train schedules, I noticed that my neighborhood stop (SW Museum) is not listed on the Gold Line schedule (effective date of April 30th). Do you know if they are no longer using the SW Museum stop – or is this this an error?

    • Hi Luv LA65:

      The station is still being used! The timetables sometimes don’t list every station in order to make them easier to read. Looks like the Lincoln/Cypress station is no longer listed on the timetable either. For Southwest station, northbound arrival times are about a minute after Heritage Square. For southbound, about three minutes after Highland Park.

      Steve Hymon
      Editor, The Source

  18. will new schedules be issued? hopefully this won’t affect the current times on the existing open stations so as to not have to memorize a whole new set of times

    • Yes, there will be new schedules. I don’t believe they will be dramatically different from existing ones — stopping at Farmdale adds a little time and it’s a short trip with no street crossings between La Cienega station and Culver City.

      Steve Hymon
      Editor, The Source

  19. Is there a reason why it’s opening at noon and not for morning rush hour? I can understand if there’s a ceremony planned for the Culver City station, but if someone at Farmdale wants to take the train to work in the morning, or if Dorsey students want to take the train to school that morning, will they really not be let on/off?

    • Hi;

      Yes, there is a ceremony planned for that morning for elected officials, etc., meaning the line won’t open until noon. So those who want to use for morning commute may want to wait until Thursday or bike or bus to La Cienega for inbound morning commute on 20th.

      Steve Hymon
      Editor, The Source