Metro will be offering free service on all bus and rail lines during the late night hours of Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve this year to help essential workers get home safely during the holidays.
No fare will be collected during the following times:
- Thursday, Dec. 24, starting at 9 p.m. through Friday, Dec. 25 at 2 a.m.
- Thursday, Dec. 31, 2020, starting at 9 p.m. through Friday, Jan. 1, 2021 at 2 a.m.
All Metro Rail stations with fare gates will be unlatched, and fare boxes and validators will not deduct fare from TAP cards and fare media.
Please note that there will be no overnight or enhanced rail service on Dec. 31, New Year’s Eve. Due to Safer-At-Home orders and the cancellation of in-person events, normal bus and train schedules and service levels will be in effect for Metro Rail. Trains will run approximately every 20 minutes after 8 p.m., and last trains will depart around midnight. For updated bus schedules, see our timetables.
Metro Bike Share will also be offering free rides for the holidays. To redeem your free ride, just select ‘1-Ride’ at any Metro Bike Share kiosk, online or in the Metro Bike Share app. You can redeem free rides multiple times throughout the day on the dates below:
- 12/24/20: Christmas Eve
- 12/25/20: Christmas Day
- 12/31/20: New Year’s Eve
- 01/01/21: New Year’s Day
A credit or debit card is required. The first 30 minutes of all rides are free. Rides longer than 30 minutes are just $1.75 each additional half-hour. Electric Metro Bike unlocking fees are waived. Temporary credit card holds and Smart Metro Bike convenience fees will apply.
Metro will run on Sunday/holiday schedule on Christmas Day and on New Year’s Day.
Please continue to avoid unnecessary travel, and do not gather with those outside of your own household. If you are out in public, wear a mask that covers both your mouth and nose and maintain physical distance from others. If you are sick or have tested positive for COVID-19, please stay at home.
Metro wishes everyone a safe and happy holidays. Thankfully, 2021 is right around the corner.
Categories: Go Metro
Don’t essential workers need public transit to get to and from work every day, not just during the holidays?
Anna, I have news for you. Metro hasn’t been collecting bus fares since the COVID-19 disease pandemic started, in the spring. How is it going to be any different on Christmas Eve, and on New Year’s Eve?
Metro rail shouldn’t be charging fares during the pandemic, because fare checkers shouldn’t be getting near passengers to check for fare compliance. Also, courts shouldn’t reopen for a trivial purpose, such as to punish fare evaders.
No one should attend a holiday celebration and get too drunk to drive home, because no one should attend a holiday celebration anyway, except with members or their own household.
This is the craziest announcement that Metro has ever made.
This must have come up of the calendar to publish the annual announcement. And so as a dutiful employee it was done, without putting much thought to it.
The card readers on Silver and Orange Line still dutifully deduct fare and Metro has never made its system free officially, unlike surrounding agencies like Foothill Transit and Santa Monica Big Blue Bus.