A good view of much of Los Angeles County. Photo: NASA Earth Observatory.
As has become our custom in recent years, Metro is offering free rides on Earth Day on Saturday, April 22. We do this to recognize transit’s role in improving our environment and public health — and, of course, fighting climate change.
Our entire system is free to ride as much as you want on April 22 — our buses, trains, Metro Bike and Metro Micro. Turnstiles will be unlocked at rail stations and there’s no need to tap at fare boxes on buses or validators. See instructions at the bottom of the post for redeeming free rides on Metro Bike and Micro.
Please come on out and have a ride — or rides! — on us. It’s easy to reach a variety of destinations via Metro. To plan a trip on your phone or computer, popular and easy tools include Google Maps, Apple Maps, the Transit app, the Moovit app and metro.net. Our current rail and busway map is at right.
Our friends at Metrolink are also offering free rides. Los Angeles Union Station is both Metro’s and Metrolink’s busiest hub and it’s easy to transfer between Metrolink and our B/D (Red/Purple) Line subway, L (Gold) Line light rail, the J (Silver) Line bus and a wide variety of other bus lines and Metro Bike. Bring the fam, make it a day, save some money and skip the parking/traffic headaches!
Metro’s new Earth Day TAP cards, at right, will be available for $2 while supplies last starting this Friday, April 14, at Metro Customer Centers. Hours and locations are here.
Earth Day is a huge deal for us because sustainability is baked into Metro’s mission. Our aim is to give everyone a great alternative to driving to help reduce traffic and the damage congestion causes to the environment and public health.
Point of Emphasis: taking transit instead of driving is a great way to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) that cause climate change.
•Taking the 🚌 instead of 🚗 = 82% fewer GHG emissions.
•Taking our 🚊 instead of 🚗 = 43% fewer GHG emissions.
•Riding a 🚲 or🚶🏾♀️instead of 🚗 = 100% fewer GHG emissions.
As for climate change, two key things worth knowing:
As the Earth’s poles become warmer, polar bears are among the many species worldwide imperiled by climate change. Photo: Shutterstock.
•While Earth’s climate has changed throughout its history, the current warming is happening at a rate not seen in the past 10,000 years, according to NASA. Note: 10,000 years is a lot of years.
•The 10 warmest years on record have all occurred since 2010, with the last nine years (2014-2022) all among the 10-warmest years, so says the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
What’s at stake? Take it away, United Nations:
The consequences of climate change now include, among others, intense droughts, water scarcity, severe fires, rising sea levels, flooding, melting polar ice, catastrophic storms and declining biodiversity.
Climate change can affect our health, ability to grow food, housing, safety and work…Conditions like sea-level rise and saltwater intrusion have advanced to the point where whole communities have had to relocate, and protracted droughts are putting people at risk of famine. In the future, the number of “climate refugees” is expected to rise.
Note: that’s A LOT at stake.
A G Line bus is recharged at North Hollywood Station. Photo: LA Metro.
At Metro we’re working on two fronts to lessen our footprint:
•We’re aiming to make our transit services as clean as possible. Our goal is to have a zero-emission bus fleet by 2030, a decade ahead of the state’s requirement (here’s a staff update going to our Board this month that recommends shifting the goal to 2035). Our G (Orange) Line buses are already all-electric and we’re working next on electrifying the J Line. Our trains run on electricity — which gets cleaner as our region’s sources for power are increasingly renewable.
Some other cool highlights of our work to lessen our environmental impact:
- Our Metro Micro fleet includes eight electric-powered vehicles.
- Our Division 13 bus facility earned a Gold Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating from the U.S. Green Building Council. Div. 13 is Metro’s sixth LEED building and has a 275,000-gallon cistern that repurposes rainwater for bus washing and other uses. The roof has a garden with native California plants to combat storm water run-off and the urban heat island effect.
- Metro achieved LEED Silver certification for our newly constructed Division 16 rail facility serving the C and K Lines.
- We’ve adopted very ambitious goals to reduce the fuels, electricity, water and materials that Metro uses in our day-to-day operations as well as our projects. See all the targets on our Sustainability page.
Metro Bike Unlimited Free Rides on April 22
All riders, including TAP patrons, can redeem free 30-minute bike share rides by selecting ‘1-Ride’ at any Metro Bike Share kiosk, online or in the Metro Bike Share app (free from Apple App Store and Google Play) and entering the promo code 042223. This code can be redeemed multiple times throughout the day.
A credit or debit card is required. The first 30 minutes of all rides are free. Rides longer than 30 minutes are $1.75 each additional half-hour. Electric Metro Bike unlocking fees are waived. Temporary credit card holds may apply.
Metro Micro Unlimited Free Rides on April 22
Use the Metro Micro app (free from Apple App Store and Google Play) and enter coupon code EarthDay23. The coupon code is valid on April 22.
And finally…
Share this post with your friends and family! We saw a lot of people enjoying free rides earlier this year on Transit Equity Day and we’d love to see even more of you enjoying YOUR transit system on April 22. Happy Earth Day, all! Note: the free rides are good from 4 a.m. on April 22 to 3 a.m. on April 23.
In the comments, please share any great nature reads — since reading is a great way to pass the time whilst transiting.
Categories: Go Metro, Policy & Funding, Projects
So sad I live in a conservative nation. My last bus driver on free earth day was a no fare person. This the county that rejects children and anyone for lack of change. I don’t I ever experienced that in metro. Considerably the sneaky people on over stacked buses. But front wise people were allowed… Not sure how it works with their job in announcement. Women were quite, but I saw hope later on with the quite person. Except the last bus driver. 100% no. I look here and I hope to say it’s not good to live in the English only side. I never met a truck at dds. I never met a security that had to investigate returns. Yet the latinas didn’t speak English. Me neither. They can’t hear me. I was bad at translating. I doubt she never met a truck before. She was instantly going to the exchange area. They had her go the return area without the possibility of exchange. With I don’t speak Spanish. We couldn’t secure a Spanish speaker when I got my glasses. I speak English and very weak in Spanish, but whatever. The guy was silent as a bee. Using symbols of the air. I fear the area may not be good for our grandmother. With lack of a Spanish speaker. Such narcissism to get a home here. Los Angeles is better with the Latino population. Better college dreams. Multiple cal states everywhere. On time buses that arrive not an hour later. Considerably I used an unpopular one and I was waiting in Compton. Dreaming.
Am I reading correctly that Metro is taking the celebration of Earth Day as an opportunity to announce that they’re hoping to delay their transition to a zero-emission bus fleet by 5 years?
Is the metro parking lot free too?
I’ve only ridden the Metro twice during the pandemic, but stopped after bad encounters along the A Line. The first time, I was caught in the middle of a fight and had a bottle thrown in my direction. Second time, I had couldn’t use the elevator going down to the platform at 7MC because the entrance was full of urine and needles. Instead, I had to carry my bike down the stairs which was so difficult since I have a heavy bike. I’m thinking maybe I’ll take this opportunity on Earth Day to see if anything has changed. Perhaps more people will ride and it’ll feel safer with more eyes onboard.
Nope not that much different. Same issues you describe but with more bystanders involved
Hello, Happy Earth Day! I just wanted to point out that electric bike unlock fees are never waived, even with the code. I’ve tried a few times before, and it always charges the fee.
How about Metro stopping expanding freeways – which, according to Metro’s own reports, will wipe out all greenhouse gas gains from Metro transit?
I purchased a 30 day pass for April. Will my pass be extended for a day to give me a free ride on Earth Day? If not, shove your free rides on Earth Day. Or better yet, fire the person who decided to offer free rides to the general public, without offering an equivalent discount to pass holders, your most loyal customers.
You can’t fire someone for good intentions. They generally have to be bad intentions for an outright firing. Plus, let’s say you were in charge and we’ll follow your logic. So you fire the person who offered free rides on Earth Day, but didn’t reward loyal customers. That employee will probably sue for unjust firing, and we’ll undoubtedly win because it’s unreasonable to fire someone for that. Now, you might get fired for making an unreasonable firing. Also, that employee wins millions of dollars for getting unreasonably fired. One mistake usually isn’t a fireable offense. I know this because I have a BA in Business. But it is a good suggestion to reward the loyal customers.