Metro to open new El Monte station to the public on Sunday, Oct. 14

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Here's the news release, hot off the Metro presses:

​Metro will officially open to the public a new expanded El Monte Station on Sunday, Oct. 14 having finished construction of the new state-of-the-art transit facility that revamped and expanded the old El Monte Station.

​The upgrade to the El Monte facility, which first opened in 1973, is part of the Congestion Reduction Demonstration Program known as ExpressLanes and is funded by a $210 million federal grant by the U.S. Department of Transportation.

​Metro and Caltrans District 7, along with Foothill Transit, Gardena Transit, the Los Angeles Department of Transportation, MetroLink and Torrance Transit are partnering in a one-year demonstration project during which existing carpool lanes on the I-10 El Monte Busway (between Alameda Street and I-605) and the I-110 Harbor Transitway (between Adams Boulevard and the Harbor Gateway Transit Center) will be converted to High-Occupancy Toll (HOT) lanes called ExpressLanes.

​The upgrading of the El Monte Bus Station is an essential part of the success of the ExpressLane project in an effort to provide commuters, regardless of income level, with new and better travel options along two of LA County’s most congested corridors. ExpressLanes along the Harbor Freeway will open November 10. ExpressLanes along the San Bernardino Freeway will open in early 2013.

​The new $60million El Monte Station consists of new two story building that will house a public bus and terminal station with limited retail space, a customer service center and surface parking. Construction on the new facility began in September 2010.

​Currently, approximately 22,000 patrons use the facility daily. It is the largest bus station west of Chicago and is used by Metro, Foothill Transit, Greyhound, El Monte Transit and Metrolink Shuttle.

The new El Monte Station opening to the public Oct. 14, is twice the size of the old facility and has modern amenities including variable message signs, intercoms, closed circuit television, solar panels, wayfinding equipment and information displays, new elevators and escalators, a transit store, bike stations and lockers. Public art by renowned artist Donald Lipski also will be incorporated in the station as part of Metro’s public art program.

​Project highlights of the new facility include an increase in daily passenger capacity by 82 percent (from 22,000 to 40,000), increase in bus bays by 87 percent (from 16 to 30), installation of 30 bike lockers/storage units, better accommodations for both 40-foot and 60-foot buses and enhanced law enforcement presence.

​A monumental sculpture by internationally renowned artist Donald Lipski is incorporated in the new El Monte Station as part of Metro’s public art program. Time Piece features three functional clocks suspended from an elegant, sweeping stainless steel arch using a web of thin stainless steel cables.

​The new facility uses energy efficient and sustainable building methods and was built to Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEEDS) Gold standards. Construction of the new facility generated more than 350 construction-related jobs.

​The construction work at the El Monte Station was done by KPRS Construction Services based in Brea under contact to Metro.

 

Categories: Projects

7 replies ›

  3. @ Hector S
    This station was designed to accomodate retail. we just have to wait and see if retail will actually show up.

  4. Since the station is done, now they have to show the bus drivers around the station. One of my uncles works for Metro and he was telling me they get to drive around the station to get use to it.

  6. So, if this thing is DONE, why not OPEN IT ON OCTOBER 1? Or is some kind of “stare-at-it-in-anticipation” period required to be done? (Or is this a “We really mean it this time” on the opening date-considering at least TWO previous dates were set before, and then DID NOT HAPPEN!)? Its interesting that NOTHING is said about the “Expresslanes” (Fast Track Transponder) office MOVING to this new station, which is what I was told by the security guarding the CLOSED trailer, is supposed to happen. I love how the MTA has up an “Expresslanes” office in El Monte that the public CANNOT GET TO!

  7. Let me guess: it’s another ASWOR (another station without retail), right?

    A bus station is a bus station, and it does nothing else. No food, no drinks, no vending machines, no retail, no businesses, no coffee shops, no eateries, no bakeries, no retail carts, no newspaper stands, no cell phone charging stations, no restrooms, no convenience stores, nothing but a place to sit or stand and do absolutely nothing but wait for the bus.

    When will Metro learn that people want actual services at these places and something to do other than just wait for the bus or the train? Can’t they learn from how airport terminals are built?