LIFE celebrates Juneteenth

Metro’s Low Income Fare is Easy (LIFE) program just hit a milestone. We just passed 250,000 enrollments! That’s right –– more than one quarter-million Angelenos can now ride Metro with big discounts. Enrolling is easy –– you can do it online, one of our designated locations, or at one of our pop-up events. And once you’re in, you can load 20 free regional rides on Metro or purchase a discounted pass on any of the 13 LIFE participating transit agencies.  

How did we do it? Teamwork. LIFE has two administrators ––FAME and International Institute of Los Angeles (IILA) –– that are responsible for screening for patron eligibility, outreach, accountability, transportation subsidy security, record keeping, training, and procedures for distributing transportation subsidies such as taxi vouchers. These administrators partner with over 150 agencies in their respective areas to support with enrollments, outreach and distribution of 4-ride tickets and taxi vouchers to help them get to medical appointments, shelters, food banks and government appointments. Wonder how it all started? Learn more here.  

Spreading the word has been a truly grassroots effort. Since LIFE began in 2019, we’ve:  

• conducted 300+ pop up enrollment events  
• distributed electronic LIFE information to 100,000+ people 
• distributed 200,000+ flyers and brochures in English, Spanish, Korean and Chinese 
• activated Metro Street Teams at bus and rail lines across LA County and at special events  
• enrolled 1,300+ participants at Macarthur Park Station over the month of May 
• partnered with Homeless Outreach and Strategic Partners Unit to ensure outreach workers were equipped with LIFE 4 ride tickets and could assist with sign-ups wherever possible  

We’ve also participated in major events across the county such as:  

• Transit Equity Day  
• Black History Month  
• Earth Day  
• Regional Connector Opening  
• Juneteenth  
• LA County Fair  
• Beach Streets, Long Beach 
• LA/San Fernando Valley/Compton Pride  
• LA Community College Swap Meet 

Outreach has been critical to achieving –– and exceeding –– our goals. Since January 2022, we have hired 24 community-based organizations to assist with dissemination of LIFE materials across LA County. In September 2022, we established a partnership with Department of Public Social Services (DPSS), which has enrolled over 13,000 people into LIFE program to date.   

Next milestone: 300,000 enrollments!