On the Move Riders Club: a day at Seal Beach

Metro’s On the Move Riders Club is a peer-to-peer travel training program designed to educate older adults on the basics of riding public transportation. In the process of learning to ride, club participants travel to destinations throughout L.A. County. They are led by volunteers called Travel Buddies, older adults who are already experts at navigating bus and rail transit. There are currently forty-six Travel Buddies who lead 26 clubs throughout the County.

Dave Myers and Barbara Tjaden are Travel Buddies for the Duarte Senior Center. Both have been with On the Move Riders Club for nearly five years, and every year they organize a summer trip. This summer, they took their group to Seal Beach. The group departed from El Monte Bus Station and traveled to Seal Beach via the Silver Line, the Blue Line and the Long Beach Aqualink.

“It was a good day to get away to a cooler climate and enjoy the small town atmosphere,” said Barbara. “On our return trip we decided to show our riders an alternative to get back to El Monte. Instead of taking the Blue Line all the way to downtown Los Angeles, we transferred to the Green Line and went the two stops to meet the Silver Line at the Harbor Freeway. We wanted to explain and show our riders an alternate route to get around.”

To visit Seal Beach, take the Blue Line to Downtown Long Beach Station. From there, you can walk or take the free Passport bus to the Aquarium of the Pacific, then board the Aqualink at Dock 4 to Alamitos Bay Landing. Riders who are 62 and older are eligible for discounted Metro fares if using a Senior TAP card. Click here for information on how to apply. For more information on how to start an On the Move Riders club, call 213.922.2299 or email OntheMove@metro.net.

14 replies

  1. What were some of the past destinations of the On the Move Riders Club?

  2. A better way to seal beach would be the blue line to pch station and then lbt route 171. I hope the travel buddies knew that but wanted to enjoy a ride on the aqualink and a 1/2 mile walk from alamitos bay landing to the seal beach pier.

    • The LBT AquaLInk is the key focus of this outing, our goal being to get away from the summer heat in the San Gabriel Valley. We just love riding the AquaLink!! From Seal Beach we took the LBT 131 to Alamitos Landing.

  3. Bus Line 55 of the original SCRTD provided this service, as it served LA, Orange, San Bernardino, and Riverside Counties, as did the Pacific Electric. The Pacific Electric Newport-Balboa rail line provided this service until 1950, including Extra Fare Parlor Car Service using interurban car 1299.

    The State Legislature screwed up when it established separate transit agencies in each county. We need to go back to what we initially had with the SCRTD..

    I see the need for a Southern California Regional Transportation Authority that serves LA, Orange, San Bernardino, Riverside, and Ventura Counties.

    • Totally agree with you, Frank ! I rode RTD 55 only once, 8/71, from the RTD/Greyhound terminal, 6th & Los Angeles Sts, to 7th St, Long Beach, from whence I walked to CSULB. I dont recall how or where the bus exited the 710, but I think it took the major streets thru Downey, Norwalk, etc, to Long Beach. I’d much appreciate re-learning the route.

    • Frank, good point about the need for a Southern California Regional Transportation Authority, especially considering the extension of the Gold Line to Ontario, which effectively creates a regional light rail.

  4. Idk why metro can’t extend line 577 south to Seal Beach. It seems like a no brainer.

    • Good suggestion. On our trip, we took the Metro 577 from El Monte Station to the end of that line near the Long Beach VA Hospital and then transferred to Long Beach Transit(LBT) 171 to complete the journey to Seal Beach. Our return loop this day was via the LBT 131, LBT AquaLink, Metro Blue, Metro Green and Metro Silver. As for the transfer to Metro Green, we wanted to show riders an alternate way home in case of problems along the Blue Line.

    • Line 577 used to continue to the Long Beach Transit Mall; it was truncated to the VA Hospital in 2011. My guess is that this was done in order to save service hours, as Metro was duplicating frequent service on Long Beach Transit between the VA Hospital and downtown Long Beach.

      The same would go for extending the route to Seal Beach: there’s service from the VA Hospital to Seal Beach on both LBT (171) and OCTA (1), so unless Seal Beach is a major destination for people heading from El Monte (which it probably isn’t), it makes much more sense for the few people headed to Seal Beach to connect at the VA Hospital rather than adding service on Metro.