Metro’s highly anticipated D Line Extension Section 1 opened at 12:30 p.m. on Friday, May 8, with subway service to three new art-filled stations at Wilshire/La Brea, Wilshire/Fairfax and Wilshire/La Cienega.
When it debuts, the D Line will offer fast, frequent and high-capacity subway service connecting Union Station, the heart of downtown L.A., the Westlake District, Koreatown, the Miracle Mile and eastern Beverly Hills. The D Line will often be quicker than driving and many riders on the pair of Metro bus lines that serve Wilshire — Lines 20 and 720 — will find the subway to be faster.
There will be Discovery Runs Deep Community Celebrations from 12:30 p.m. through 4 p.m. on Friday, May 8, at street level next to each of the three new stations, in addition to Wilshire/Western Station. KCRW DJs from Metro Art’s Soundtrips program will set the tone for the public to enjoy local food vendors, arts-and-crafts and public information booths.
To celebrate this long-anticipated project, rides across the Metro bus, rail, bike share and Micro system will be free from 4 a.m. Friday, May 8, through 3 a.m. Monday, May 11. Use the code 050826 for Metro Bike Share. No code is needed for Micro.
Friendly reminder: this is just the beginning of the D Line Extension.
Section 2 will bring the subway to downtown Beverly Hills and Century City. Section 3 extends the D Line to Westwood Village (with access to UCLA) and a station next to the West Los Angeles VA Medical Center, which provides care for 84,000-plus military veterans each year.
Sections 2 and 3 of the project are currently forecast to open in 2027.
This is An Extremely Historic Moment!
Wilshire Boulevard is one of our region’s most iconic streets. But there has never been any kind of rail service on Wilshire west of Western Avenue, the current terminus for the D Line.
In the late 1800s, residential developers thought streetcars would sully the new neighborhood. For much of the 20th century, Westside rail plans came and rail plans went — with little agreement among pols, voters, agencies, businesses and residents over what to build, where to build it and how to pay for it.
The D Line did finally open to its current terminus at Wilshire/Western in 1996. But the tracks would go no further west until Metro proved it could safely tunnel and excavate stations in areas along Wilshire with gassy soils.
Everything finally came together in 2008 when more than two-thirds of voters in Los Angeles County approved the Measure R sales tax measure that funded a nine-mile extension of the subway to Westwood.
A subsequent sales tax ballot measure in 2016 — Measure M — was approved by 71 percent of county voters and accelerated the construction of Section 3.
The photo below shows the density around the Wilshire Corridor and neatly explains why it’s a good place to build a subway. Finally!
Our Lovely New Stations
Among the many features of our new stations:
•Each has a landscaped plaza at street level, elevators and escalators, wide platforms and are fully ADA accessible.
•Each station has new bike lockers.
•Each station is just steps away from bus stops for transfers to some of our busiest bus lines, including Lines 20 and 720 on Wilshire, Line 212 on La Brea Avenue, Line 217 on Fairfax and Line 105 on La Cienega. More info is below on neighborhoods and destinations near the D Line Extension.
•The three new stations and plaza have enhanced lighting and have been designed with clear sight lines to improve visibility and safety.
•Cell phone service with AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon will be available inside each of the new stations.
•Stations were built to integrate well with the neighborhoods where they reside. We’re continuing to work with the cities of L.A. and Beverly Hills to make the journey to and from each station — whether by foot, bike, transit and car — as easy and safe as can be.
Station Artworks
Each new station has three immersive artworks commissioned by Metro Art.
These museum-quality artworks are prominent, bold and found at every level of the station — from street level to underground. To put it another way: they’re pretty spectacular!
Here are the nine artworks:
The idea behind the artworks is to transform infrastructure into imaginative, thoughtfully designed public spaces that deliver riders to some of LA’s most iconic arts and cultural destinations.
This playlist on YouTube features videos with each of the nine artists commissioned by Metro Art. The videos offers an intimate perspective on the intentional concepts and processes behind the artworks and how they relate to the surrounding neighborhoods.
You can learn much more about Metro Art here.
Destinations
Section 1 will connect riders to a long list of destinations that include major employment centers, schools, healthcare and culture.
•Wilshire/La Brea serves the Mid-Wilshire area including the Miracle Mile, Park Mile and Hancock Park. The station is near the El Rey Theater and the Marciano Art Foundation.
Metro Bus Line 212 on La Brea can be used to travel north all the way to the B Line’s Hollywood/Highland Station in Hollywood and south of Wilshire to the Inglewood Transit Center.
•Wilshire/Fairfax also serves the Mid-Wilshire area, Hancock Park and the Fairfax District.
The station is also literally steps from:
Academy Museum of Motion Pictures
Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA)
The station is also within a short bus ride or walk to Holocaust Museum LA (reopening in 2026), The Grove LA, the Original Farmer’s Market and Pan Pacific Park.
Metro Bus Line 217 on Fairfax can be used to ride north and east to Hollywood, Glendale and Eagle Rock and south of Wilshire all the way to La Cienega/Jefferson Station on the E Line.
•Wilshire/LaCienega is in eastern Beverly Hills and adjacent to the Mid-Wilshire area and Beverly Grove. The station is adjacent to “Restaurant Row” on La Cienega — including the very well-known Lawry’s. The station is less than a mile from the Beverly Center and Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.
Metro Bus Line 105 on La Cienega can be used to ride north to West Hollywood and south and east to South L.A. and the city of Vernon. Tip: if riding to Cedars-Sinai or the Pacific Design Center, take the northbound 105 from Wilshire/La Cienega and transfer to the westbound Line 16 at La Cienega/3rd.
Travel Times on the D Line
The Mid-Wilshire neighborhood and the Westside (which is widely considered to be west of La Cienega) has become the second-largest job center in our region behind only downtown Los Angeles. As a result, traffic in the mid-Wilshire and Westside areas and the rest of our region has become worse (to put it nicely).
Enter the D Line. Because the D Line runs entirely underground, it’s very fast. Travel time between Wilshire/La Cienega and Union Station is just over 20 minutes in both directions.
That’s less than half the time it typically takes drive at most times of the day and it’s also a considerable time savings over current bus and rail service.
Riders from across L.A. County can now ride Metro Rail or Metrolink into downtown L.A., transfer to the D Line and quickly get to the Westside. Conversely, Westsiders can quickly reach downtown L.A. and then take transit in a myriad of directions.
The D Line will operate between about 4:10 a.m. and about 12:30 a.m. every day of the year. Trains will run every 10 minutes for much of the day on weekdays and weekends and every 20 minutes in early mornings and later in the evenings.
The time-savings benefits of the D Line will only grow as Sections 2 and 3 open.
Transferring between the D Line and other trains and buses
•If you’re riding Metrolink, Amtrak or local buses to/from Union Station, it’s quickest to transfer to/from the D Line there. There are entrances to the B and D Lines in both Union Station East and Union Station West.
•A LINE NORTH: transfer to/from the D Line at 7th/Metro Station in downtown L.A. The A Line runs on the upper level at 7th/Metro and the B and D Lines on the lower level.
•A LINE SOUTH: transfer to/from the D Line at 7th/Metro.
•E LINE: transfer to/from the D Line at 7th/Metro.
•B LINE: if heading to/from the direction of North Hollywood, transfer to/from the D Line at Wilshire/Vermont. If riding from the direction of Union Station, you can either board a D Line train at any DTLA station or transfer to/from the D Line at 7th/Metro.
•If riding the J Line from points south of downtown L.A., it’s easiest to transfer to the D Line at 7th/Metro Station. If riding the J Line to/from El Monte, transfer to/from the D Line at Union Station.
To plan your transit trip, there are some great online tools and apps. We recommend Google Maps, Apple Maps, the Transit or Moovit apps or the trip planner on metro.net.
Metro’s 20 and 720 Bus Lines
These two bus lines have long served Wilshire Boulevard between downtown L.A. and downtown Santa Monica. Line 20 is a local bus with frequent stops whereas Line 720 stops about once every mile and is often used for longer trips.
Even with the opening of Section 1 of the D Line, we’re continuing our current service levels on both lines. After the D Line Extension is settled in and some riders are instead using the new D Line stations, we’ll look at ridership patterns on the 20 and 720 and adjust service levels according to ridership trends. This process will continue as D Line Sections 2 and 3 open.
Everyone’s commute is different, but for those traveling between the far Westside and downtown L.A., using the subway to ride between downtown L.A. and Wilshire/La Cienega will often be quicker than riding the bus. We suggest using the trip planners mentioned above to see the fastest way to travel in the corridor.
Metro Fares
As mentioned above, rides are FREE across the Metro system from 4 a.m. on Friday, May 8, through 3 a.m. Monday, May 11. Starting at 3 a.m. on Monday, May 11, you will need to pay fare to ride the D Line.
•Regular Metro fare is $1.75 or $3.50 round-trip. Fare is good for two hours and transfers to other Metro buses and trains are free during that two hour period.
•Under our fare capping program, we stop charging riders after they spend $5 on fares in any given day or $18 over a 7-day period. In other words, you’ll never pay more than $5 a day or $18 over a 7-day period to ride.
•Metro also offers 20 free rides a month or a a discounted pass on another participating transit agency for qualifying low-income riders through our LIFE program. Learn more here.
•We offer discounted fares for seniors age 62 and over, Medicare recipients, customers with disabilities and K-12 and community college students. Learn more here.
•K-12 and community college students in L.A. County can ride for free with our GoPass program, available through participating schools and school districts. Learn more about GoPass here.
•Two children, ages 6 and under, can ride free with each paying adult.
•To ride Metro, you can pay fare with a digital TAP card on your smartphone or a plastic TAP card to board trains and buses. We’ll also soon launch the ability to pay fares with a contactless credit card.
•Plastic TAP cards can be purchased for $2 plus the cost of fare at TAP vending machines located at all Metro Rail and Busway stations.
•Each paying rider should have their own TAP card. In other words, you can’t pay for your ride and someone else’s ride with just one TAP card.
•PRO TIP: purchasing fares on your smartphone is easy. Here’s how:
iPhone
- Open the Apple Wallet app on your iPhone and tap the “+”
- Select ‘Transit Card,’ then select TAP
- Add fare with a double click of the side button
- Tap at bus farebox or validator at rail stations & ride!
- Fans can load multiple TAP cards in Apple Wallet — you just need to switch to the next card before tapping at the farebox on buses and validators at rail and busway stations.
Android phones
- Download the TAP App from Google Play
- Sign in or create a TAP account
- Follow prompts to “Add a TAP Card on Your Phone” and add fare; a round-trip on Metro buses and trains costs $3.50
- Tap at bus farebox or validator at rail stations & ride!
Safety & Security
Our system is protected 24/7/365 by roving security staff. That includes Metro’s own Transit Security Officers, contracted law enforcement (such as the LAPD), contract security officers and our Care-Based Division to help those in need. Visit our public safety page for a ton of info on our safety work and the results we’re seeing.
•If you need help finding your way on Metro, please look for our friendly Metro Ambassadors, who wear gray jackets and very bright green shirts.
•If you need to contact our public safety team to report an issue, call 888.950.7233.
•In an emergency, please call 911.
Our expanding system
The D Line Extension is just one of many Metro’s transit projects and programs. See our projects page to learn more about our expanding system and the ways we’re making it easier to ride transit in the L.A. area.
When sections 2 and 3 of the D Line Extension are completed, the full project will be a critical connection for the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games with its stop in Westwood and the athlete’s village at UCLA.
We also believe that once the D Line is fully open and helping Angelenos reach destinations for generations to come, it will be hard to imagine how our region lived without the project.
Thank you for supporting public transit and we can’t wait to see everyone riding this weekend!
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Multiple factual errors in this post. Which we’re used to, since Metro leaders don’t use their own system.
1) “B Line: If riding from the direction of Union Station, transfer to/from the D Line at 7th/Metro.”
Why resort to this nonsense of adding an unnecessary transfer when all B and D Line stations are exactly the same from Union Station to 7th Street/Metro Center?? Instead of riding the B and transferring to D at 7th Street, you can simply ride the D Line to begin with! No transfer needed! Completely absurd that “The Source” run by Metro would suggest this ridiculous added transfer and added travel time to journeys. Only someone completely unfamiliar with Metro’s EXISTING system would suggest this nonsense.
2) “Tip: if riding to Cedars-Sinai or the Pacific Design Center, take the northbound 105 from Wilshire/La Cienega and transfer to the westbound Line 16 at La Cienega/3rd.”
Metro staff doesn’t realize that the La Cienega/3rd Street is just one block (less than 500 feet!) away from the Cedars-Sinai campus? Why would you advise riders to add another unnecessary transfer from the 105 to the 16, which requires a 10+ minute wait and results in TWO transfers (from the D to 105 to 16) instead of just one?
And the Pacific Design Center is served by the 105! The 105 stops at Santa Monica/San Vicente, which is only separated from the PDC by the sheriffs station in between (only a 400 feet walk from the stop to PDC). Again, Metro is advising riders to add an unnecessary additional transfer and added travel time, when they can simply stay on the 105 and get to their destination without this nonsense of transferring to the 16.
3) There’s no difference in the transfer between A and D Lines at 7th Street based on which direction you’re traveling on the A Line, so this north versus south distinction is more unnecessary guidance.
4) No one but people on the “far Westside” consider La Cienega as the eastern border of the Westside. That would mean that parts of Beverly Hills and most of West Hollywood, as well as The Grove, are NOT on the Westside, which most people would disagree with. The common historical eastern boundary of the Westside has been Western Avenue (hence the name!). At most, some may consider La Brea Ave as the eastern border. But certainly not La Cienega, which is well within the Westside boundaries (and not its border).