LA Metro 2015: A Year of Accomplishment

As the third largest transportation agency in the nation, Metro is responsible for transporting millions of passengers safely and efficiently to their destinations every day. On top of that key responsibility, the agency manages one of the largest public works projects in the nation with three major rail lines currently being constructed and another two rail extensions near opening.  Metro’s eyes are also on the horizon and looking ahead to plan and seek out funding for long-term solutions in order to continue building the best, most innovative and customer-focused transportation system in the world.

In all of these areas, the agency has made substantial progress this year. Here are some of the major milestones:

• Metro Rail celebrated 25 years of service. The Metro Rail system began operation in July 1990 with the opening of the Metro Blue Line and has since expanded to six rail lines spanning 87 miles with approximately 103 million rail passenger boardings annually.
• Initiated the process for regional collaboration in the development of a potential ballot measure and secured passage of Senate Bill 767 that would allow Metro to seek an additional sales tax via ballot measure to potentially fund projects in Metro’s Traffic Solutions Plan.
• Published the first annual report to the community in an easily digestible format to increase public awareness of the many programs overseen or underway at Metro.
• Secured funding for the Purple Line Extension and the Regional Connector and advanced the construction of Crenshaw/LAX, Purple Line Extension and Regional Connector.
• Celebrated the 10th anniversary of the bus rapid transit (BRT) Metro Orange Line running from North Hollywood to Warner Center and Chatsworth. Since its opening day in 2005, the 18-mile line has accommodated 74 million passenger boardings.
• The Gold Line Foothill Extension to Azusa reached construction substantial completion and an opening date was announced. Meanwhile, the first train cars in more than 60 years passed through West L.A. and downtown Santa Monica as testing for the Metro Expo Line Phase 2 to Santa Monica began.
• Launched a trio of campaigns to enhance safety and security on the Metro system, including the “It’s Off Limits” anti-sexual harassment campaign, a campaign to increase awareness of human trafficking, and invested in new security kiosks and state-of-the-art mobile security towers.
• The Metro Board appointed Phillip Washington, the former Chief Executive Officer of Denver’s RTD transit agency, as Metro’s new CEO.
• Launched the Business Solution Center and Business Interruption Fund programs to assist businesses in areas impacted by construction. The first businesses to receive assistance were located near the Crenshaw/LAX project.
• All 26 regional transportation agencies in L.A. County joined the TAP system. The milestone signified that all municipal transit agencies in L.A. County accept TAP as universal media and passengers are able to transfer to bus or train from any transit provider.

In addition to these accomplishments, Metro was also busy taking L.A. County residents where they need to go by providing bus and train service to more than 1.4 million boarding passengers per day. The agency also developed a $5.6 billion budget with no fare increases or any cuts to bus service hours for the fiscal year 2016. And to help improve the rider experience, Metro worked with Google to provide real-time bus and train information in the company’s popular Google Maps application.

Metro further committed to the safety of its bus operators and installed protective barriers, passenger-facing video monitors and automated announcements to reduce disputes over fares on some buses.

The agency also secured a $38.4 million state grant to make safety and other enhancements at the Metro Blue and Green Line Willowbrook/Rosa Park Station.

On Wilshire Boulevard, Metro built 7.7 miles of peak hour bus lanes as part of the Wilshire Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project aimed at saving bus commuters time along one of the busiest corridors in L.A. County. The Metro Silver Line bus service began operating to San Pedro, providing residents a direct route from the South Bay to downtown Los Angeles. And as part of a pilot program to test clean-air prototype buses, the agency began testing the first five all-electric prototype buses manufactured by BYD Inc.

To better serve multimodal travelers, Metro opened the first Metro Bike Hub at the El Monte Station where bicyclists are able to securely park their bicycles or get repairs.

The agency also created the Office of Extraordinary Innovation to champion new ideas for improving mobility in L.A. County and announced its first Chief Innovation Officer, Dr. Joshua L. Schank. 

Carrying forward on the progress of 2015, anticipation is extraordinarily high for 2016. There will be two new rail extension openings resulting in 18 more miles of rail, construction on Metro’s three major rail projects are expected to continue and intensify, and the agency will potentially seek out funding for additional projects from multiple sources.

Here are a few of the specific milestones the agency is looking forward to in 2016:

• The Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension to Azusa is set to open on March 5, 2016. The extension will add an additional 11.5 miles and six new stations to the existing Gold Line that currently runs from East L.A. to Pasadena. The opening will coincide with the launch of express bus service that will connect the Gold Line in Pasadena to the Metro Red and Orange Lines in North Hollywood.
• The Metro Expo Line Phase 2 to Santa Monica is also expected to open in the first half of the year. The extension will add seven stations and 6.6 miles to the existing Expo Line that currently runs from downtown L.A. to Culver City, extending the line to downtown Santa Monica and only steps away from the Santa Monica Pier.
• Construction will continue for Metro’s three major rail projects. The Crenshaw/LAX project is expected to reach 50 percent construction completion. Both the Crenshaw/LAX and Regional Connector projects anticipate the beginning of tunneling that will be performed by multi-million dollar tunnel boring machines (TBMs).
• The Purple Line Extension Segment 2 will seek a full funding grant agreement from the federal government to provide critical funding to pave the way for major construction on the 2.6 mile segment of the new line between La Cienega and Century City along Wilshire Boulevard.  
• Metro will continue to educate the public on how the agency can further ease traffic sooner rather than later through a potential ballot measure for the November 2016 election. Metro may seek an additional half-cent sales tax and look to extend the Measure R half-cent sales tax until 2057 to fund more projects sooner rather than later. The Metro Board will decide in late spring/early summer whether to put the measure before voters in November.
• Metro will hold the first ever “Industry Forum” on Feb. 11 to garner industry participation and potentially forge financial partnerships on Metro projects from Fortune 500 executives and companies.