Purple Line (Los Angeles Metro)
The Purple Line is a heavy rail subway line operating in Los Angeles, running between downtown and the Mid-Wilshire/Koreatown districts. It is one of six lines on the Metro Rail System, operated by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority; the Metro Purple Line is one of the city's two subway lines. Although they separate west of Downtown Los Angeles, the two subway lines were branded as two branches of the Red Line; the Purple Line was instituted as its own line, separate from the Red Line, in 2006. As of October 2013, the combined Red and Purple lines averaged 169,478 boardings per weekday. Out of the eight stations served, only two of them are exclusive to the Purple Line, with the other six shared with the Red Line. Beginning in 2019, the line will be renamed to the D Line while retaining its purple coloring; the Metro Purple Line is a 6.4-mile line. At Union Station, passengers can connect to the Metro Silver Line bus rapid transit line, the Metro Gold Line; the Purple Line travels southwest through Downtown Los Angeles, passing the Civic Center, Pershing Square and the Financial District.
Passengers can connect to the Metro Silver Line at Civic Center Station. At Pershing Square Station, passengers can board the northbound Metro Silver Line bus at Olive Street/5th Street. At 7th St/Metro Center Station, travelers can connect to the Metro Blue Line, Metro Expo Line and the Metro Silver Line. From here, the train travels between 7th Street and Wilshire Boulevard west through Pico-Union and Westlake, arriving at Wilshire/Vermont in the city's Mid-Wilshire/Koreatown district. Up to this point, track is shared with the Metro Red Line: at Wilshire/Vermont, the two lines diverge; the Purple Line continues west for one additional mile, terminates at Wilshire/Western. The Purple Line runs underground, below Wilshire Boulevard, served on the surface by Metro Local route 20 and Metro Rapid route 720. Despite the duplicate service, Metro considers the redundant bus service justified because both bus routes run from Downtown Los Angeles. Unlike the Purple Line, they run along the entire Wilshire corridor, west to Beverly Hills and Santa Monica.
Trains run between 4:45 a.m. and 11:30 p.m. daily, with late night weekend service running until 2:00 a.m. First and last train times are as follows: To/From Wilshire/Western Eastbound First Train to Union Station: 4:41 a.m. Last Train to Union Station: 11:42 p.m. Westbound First Train to Wilshire/Western: 4:56 a.m. Last Train to Wilshire/Western: 11:27 p.m. During the evenings Purple Line trains sometimes run as shuttles. Passengers must transfer to a Red Line train at Wilshire/Vermont; this will change. Trains on the Purple Line operate every ten minutes during peak hours Monday through Friday, they operate every twelve minutes during the daytime weekdays and all day on the weekends after 10 a.m.. Night service can range between 20–30 minutes; the Purple Line is utilized as a downtown shuttle on its shared segment with the Red Line. The stub between Vermont and Western has a low ridership. According to Metro Service Coordinator Conan Cheung, the stub is operating 11% full during peak hours, lower at other times.
The current Purple Line is the product of a long-term plan to connect Downtown Los Angeles to central and western portions of the city with a heavy rail subway system. Planned in the 1980s to travel west down Wilshire Boulevard to Fairfax Avenue and north to the San Fernando Valley, a methane explosion at a Ross Dress for Less clothing store near Fairfax in 1985, just as construction got underway, led to a legal prohibition on tunnelling in a large part of Mid-Wilshire. Instead, after some wrangling, a new route was chosen up Vermont Avenue to Hollywood Boulevard. However, a short one-mile branch down Wilshire from Vermont to Western was allowed to remain in the system; the service designated as the Purple Line opened in two minimum operating segments: MOS-1, which consisted of the original five stations from Union Station to Westlake/MacArthur Park, opened on January 30, 1993. MOS-2A, including three new stations between Westlake/MacArthur Park and Wilshire/Western, opened in 1996; the Vermont branch began service in 1999.
Both branches were designated as part of the Red Line, but in 2006 trains travelling between Union Station and Wilshire/Western were rebranded the Purple Line for greater clarity. Metro is now aiming to complete the subway to the Westside; the new project is called the Purple Line Extension and the first phase broke ground on November 7, 2014. Metro released the Final Environmental Impact Report on March 19, 2012, the first phase of the project was approved by Metro's Board of Directors on April 26, 2012. Notice to proceed was issued to Tutor Perini on April 26, 2017 for phase two from Wilshire/La Cienega Station to Century City Station. Pre-construction has commenced. Metro is still attempting to obtain funding for phase 3 to Westwood/UCLA; the following table lists the stations of the Purple Line, from east to west: The Purple Line is operated out of the Division 20 Yard located at 320 South Santa Fe Avenue Los Angeles. This yard stores the fleet used on the Purple Line, it is where heavy maintenance is done on the fleet.
Subways get to this yard by continuing on after Union Statio
Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority
The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority is an agency that operates public transportation in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. It was formed in 1993 out of a merger of the Southern California Rapid Transit District and the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission, it is chartered under state law as a regional transportation planning agency. Metro directly operates light rail, heavy rail and bus rapid transit services, it directs planning for rail and freeway projects within Los Angeles County. It funds 27 local transit agencies as well as access paratransit services; the agency develops and oversees transportation plans, funding programs, both short-term and long-range solutions to mobility and environmental needs in the county. The agency is the primary transit provider for the City of Los Angeles, providing the bulk of such services, while the City of Los Angeles Department of Transportation operates a much smaller system of its own: Commuter Express bus service to outlying suburbs in the city of Los Angeles and the popular DASH mini-bus service in downtown and other neighborhoods.
Metro's headquarters are in a high-rise building adjacent to Union Station in downtown Los Angeles. The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority operates the third-largest public transportation system in the United States by ridership with a 1,433 mi² operating area and 2,000 peak hour buses on the street any given business day. Metro operates 105 miles of urban rail service; the authority has 9,892 employees, making it one of the region's largest employers. The authority partially funds sixteen municipal bus operators and an array of transportation projects including bikeways and pedestrian facilities, local roads and highway improvements, goods movement, Metrolink regional commuter rail, Freeway Service Patrol and freeway call boxes within the greater metropolitan Los Angeles region. Security and law enforcement services on Metro property are provided by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department's Transit Services Bureau via contract, in conjunction with Metro Transit Enforcement Department, Los Angeles Police Department and Long Beach Police Department.
In 2006, the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority was named Outstanding Transportation System for 2006 by the American Public Transportation Association. Most buses and trains have "America's Best" decals affixed. Metro Rail is a rail mass transit system with four light rail lines; as of November 2016, the system runs a total of 105 miles, with 93 stations and over 316,000 daily weekday boardings. Starting in 2019, lines will be renamed with lettered designations, citing a lack of distinct colors available for future services; the Blue Line is a light rail line running between Downtown Long Beach. The Red Line is a subway line running between Downtown Los North Hollywood; the Green Line is a light rail line running between Redondo Beach and Norwalk in the median of the 105 Freeway. It provides indirect access to Los Angeles International Airport via a shuttle bus; the Purple Line is a subway line running between Downtown Los Angeles and the Mid-Wilshire district of Los Angeles.
Most of its route is shared with the Red Line. The Gold Line is a light rail line running between East Los Angeles and Azusa via Downtown Los Angeles; the Expo Line is a light rail line running between Downtown Los Santa Monica. Metro Busway is an express bus system with characteristics of bus rapid transit with two lines operating on dedicated or shared-use busways; the system runs a total of 60 miles, with 28 stations and over 42,000 daily weekday boardings as of May 2016. The Metro Busway system is meant to mimic the Metro Rail system, both in the vehicle's design and in the operation of the line. Vehicles stop at dedicated stations, vehicles receive priority at intersections and are painted in a silver livery similar to Metro Rail vehicles; the Metro Orange Line is a bus rapid transit line running between North Chatsworth. The Metro Silver Line is a limited-stop bus line running between El Monte, Downtown Los Angeles, Harbor Gateway, with some buses serving San Pedro. Metro is the primary bus operator in the Los Angeles Basin, the San Fernando Valley, the western San Gabriel Valley.
Other transit providers operate more frequent service in the rest of the county. Regions in Los Angeles County that Metro Bus does not serve at all include rural regions, the Pomona Valley, the Santa Clarita Valley, the Antelope Valley. Metro operates two types of bus services. However, when mechanical problems or availability equipment occurs, a bus of any color may be substituted to continue service on the route. Metro Local buses are painted in an off-orange color which the agency has dubbed “California Poppy”; this type of service makes frequent stops along major thoroughfares. There are 18,500 stops on 189 bus lines; some Metro Local routes make limited stops along part of their trip but do not participate in the Rapid program. Some Metro Local bus lines are operated by contractors MV Transportation, Southland Transit, Transdev. Metro Rapid buses are distinguished by their bright red color which the agency has dubbed “Rapid Red”; this bus rapid transit service offers limited stops on many of the county's more heavi
Norwalk station (Los Angeles Metro)
Norwalk is a Los Angeles County Metro Rail station on the Green Line. Located in Norwalk, California, it is the eastern terminus of the Green Line; the station uses the surname I-605/I-105 because of its location at the interchange of the San Gabriel River Freeway and the Century Freeway. This station serves as a major transfer point for the Metro Express Line 460 with service to theme parks Knott's Berry Farm and Disneyland in Anaheim. Green Line service hours are from 5:00 AM until 12:45 AM daily. Metro Local: 111, 115, 120, 125 Metro Express: 460, 577X Norwalk Transit: 2, 4*, 5, 7 Long Beach Transit: 172, 173*Norwalk Transit Line 4 connects to Norwalk/Santa Fe Springs; the theme for this station is bee hive. There is a freestanding sculpture of a bee at the entrance to the station, the station is lined with hexagonal tiles. Media related to Norwalk at Wikimedia Commons Metro website
Pershing Square station
Pershing Square is a heavy-rail subway station in the Los Angeles County Metro Rail system. It is located on Hill Street between 4th and 5th Streets, near Pershing Square in Downtown Los Angeles; this station is served by the Metro Red Line and the Metro Purple Line and various local bus services. The Metro Silver Line heading northbound to El Monte Station stops at the street level; the Metro Silver Line heading southbound to Harbor Gateway Transit Center does not stop near the station. The station uses an island platform layout and is decorated with a neon art piece by Stephen Antonakos; the work pays tribute to the first neon sign in the United States, hung in 1924 in the Pershing Square area. The station installed station canopies for the stations entrance in 2014. Pershing Square is near Angels Grand Central parking. Rail services: Red and Purple Line service hours are from 5:00 AM until 12:45 AM daily. Silver Line service hours are from 4:15 AM until 1:45 AM Monday- Friday & 5:00 A. M.- 1:45 A.
M. Saturdays/ Sundays & Holidays. Metro bus services: Metro Local: 2, 4, 10, 14, 16, 18, 28, 30, 33, 37, 38, 40, 45, 48, 53, 55, 62, 68, 70, 71, 76, 78, 79, 81, 83, 90, 91, 92, 94, 96, 302*, 316* & 378* Metro Express: 442*, 460, 487 & 489* Metro Rapid: 720, 728, 733, 745, 770 & 794 Metro Liner: Metro Silver Line Other local and commuter bus services: Foothill Transit: Silver Streak LADOT Commuter Express: 419* LADOT DASH: B, D Montebello Transit: 40, 50, 90* Orange County Transportation Authority: 701*, 721* Torrance Transit: 4* Note: * indicates commuter service that operates only during weekday rush hours. Pershing Square Historic Core/Broadway Angels Flight Grand Central Market Hilton Checkers Hotel Library Tower Jewelry District Millennium Biltmore Hotel Omni Los Angeles Hotel Richard J. Riordan Central Library Title Guarantee and Trust Company Building Angels Knoll parkOUE Skycrape LA Days of Summer S. W. A. T. Lethal Weapon 3 Speed He Was a Quiet Man "Takers" Bad Day 2005 video by musician Daniel Powter Pershing Square Station connections overview
Hollywood/Vine station
Hollywood/Vine is a heavy-rail subway station in the Los Angeles County Metro Rail system in Hollywood, Los Angeles. It is located below the intersection of Vine Street; this station is served by the Red Line. The central station of the three subway stops in Hollywood, it is within walking distance of many important landmarks including the Capitol Records Building; the Hollywood Walk of Fame is upstairs, while the Pantages Theatre is across the street. Other attractions include CBS Columbia Square, the Frolic Room, Gower Gulch, the Sunset and Vine apartment complex, the Hollywood Palladium. In accordance with Metro's initiatives to spur transit-oriented development around its stations, Hollywood/Vine has become a prime target for regeneration; the W Hotel opened a 300-room location in a 2.3-acre mixed-use site with condominiums and 30,000 sq ft of street retail space. In addition, the 1600 Vine complex to the south contains 375 apartments and 28,000 sq ft of street-level retail. Hollywood/Vine opened on June 12, 1999, as the western terminus of the northern branch of the Red Line.
Upon the opening of the westward extension to North Hollywood in 2000, it lost its title as the end of the line. Like most stations on the Metro, Hollywood/Vine uses an island platform setup with two tracks. There is an entrance to the east of the intersection at Argyle Avenue; each Red Line station was assigned a professional artist to design the aesthetic appeal and personality of the station. Local Los Angeles Chicano artist Gilbert Luján was selected to design this station. "Light" was one of the central themes of the station because of its pervasiveness in Hollywood, from stars to light that passes through projectors to show films to the sun in sunny southern California. Cultural motifs in the form of So Cal cultural icons are prevalent throughout the myriad of ceramic tiles lining the walls of the corridors as passengers descend into the railway tunnel. Benches for waiting passengers were fashioned as classic car lowriders on pedestals; the station has the most detail and decorations of any station in the entire Metro system.
This station is among the most pleasant and "fun" stations and tourists may find this station the most enjoyable. Other features include two movie projectors donated by Paramount Pictures pointed towards a representation of a movie screen flanked by large curtains; the ceiling of the station is covered with empty film reels. Pillars that provide support for the station are designed to look like palm trees, beneath the handrail of the stairs are musical notes for the famed song "Hooray for Hollywood." Passengers making their way to the street follow the "Yellow Brick Road" while passing many colored tiles that depict icons or represent southern California lifestyle. Metro servicesMetro Local: 180, 181, 210, 212, 217, 222 Metro Rapid: 780Other local servicesFlyAway Bus LADOT DASH: Beachwood Canyon, Hollywood/WilshireLong-distance motorcoachBoltBus Station connections overview
Vermont/Santa Monica station
Vermont/Santa Monica is a heavy-rail subway station in the Los Angeles County Metro Rail system. It is located at Vermont Avenue and Santa Monica Boulevard in East Hollywood neighborhood of Los Angeles; this station is served by the Red Line. Vermont/Santa Monica has two entrances on a north entrance and a south entrance; the north entrance faces Santa Monica Blvd. The south entrance, near Lockwood Avenue, is adjacent to Los Angeles City College and three blocks from Braille Institute; the station was designed by the firm of Ellerbe Becket, which received a progressive architecture award for the design. The station design was created as a series of layers, each of, unique to its purpose; the most prominent element of the design is the almond shaped structure over the entrance to the station. The almond shape is repeated in an almond shaped balcony overlooking the station; the cost of the station was US$40.5 million. Red Line service hours are from 5:00 AM until 12:45 AM daily. Metro services Metro Local: 4, 204 Metro Rapid: 704, 754Other local services LADOT DASH: Hollywood Station connections overview
Red Line (Los Angeles Metro)
The Red Line is a heavy rail subway line running between Downtown Los Angeles and North Hollywood via the districts of Hollywood and Mid-Wilshire. In North Hollywood it connects with the Orange Line service for stations to the Warner Center in Woodland Hills and Chatsworth, it is operated by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority. The Red Line, one of six lines forming the Metro Rail rapid transit system, opened in stages between 1993 and 2000. Together with the Purple Line, these two heavy rail lines combine to form L. A. Metro Rail's busiest line; as of October 2013, the combined Red and Purple lines averaged 169,478 boardings per weekday. Beginning in 2019, the line will be renamed to the B Line while retaining its red coloring; the Red Line is a 16.4-mile line that begins at Union Station and travels southwest through Downtown Los Angeles, passing the Civic Center, Pershing Square and the Financial District. At 7th St/Metro Center, travelers can connect to Metro Expo Line.
From here, the train travels between 7th Street and Wilshire Boulevard west through Pico-Union and Westlake, arriving at Wilshire/Vermont in the city's Mid-Wilshire/Koreatown district. Up to this point, the track is shared with the Metro Purple Line: at Wilshire/Vermont, the two lines diverge. From here, the Red Line travels north along Vermont, west along Hollywood Boulevard, traveling through Koreatown and Hollywood; the line turns northwest and crosses into the San Fernando Valley, where it terminates in North Hollywood. This route matches a branch of the old Red Car system, dismantled during The Great American Streetcar Scandal. Trains run between 4:30 a.m. and 1:00 a.m. the following morning. On Friday and Saturday evenings, trains are extended until 2:00 a.m. of the following morning. First and last train times are as follows: To/From North Hollywood Eastbound First Train to Union Station: 4:32 a.m. Last Train to Union Station: 1:02 a.m. Westbound First Train to North Hollywood: 4:10 a.m.
Last Train to North Hollywood: 12:21 a.m. Trains on the Red Line operate every ten minutes during peak hours Monday through Friday, they operate every twelve minutes during the daytime weekdays and all day on the weekends after 10 a.m.. Night service is every 20 minutes; the current Red Line is the product of a long-term plan to connect Downtown Los Angeles to central and western portions of the city with a heavy rail subway system. Planned in the 1980s to travel west down Wilshire Boulevard to Fairfax Avenue and north to the San Fernando Valley, a methane explosion at a Ross Dress for Less clothing store near Fairfax in 1985, just as construction got underway, led to a legal prohibition on tunneling in a large part of Mid-Wilshire. Instead, after some wrangling, a new route was chosen up Vermont Avenue to Hollywood Boulevard; the line opened in three minimum operating segments: MOS-1, which consisted of the original five stations from Union Station to Westlake/MacArthur Park, opened on January 30, 1993.
MOS-2B, which consisted of five new stations from Wilshire/Vermont to Hollywood/Vine which opened in 1999. MOS-3, which added new stations and extended the Red Line from Hollywood/Vine to its final terminus at North Hollywood, opened in 2000; the route known as the Red Line was intended to continue beyond its eastern terminus at Union Station to East Los Angeles. At the north end of the route, the Red Line was to turn west from North Hollywood station toward Warner Center. Trouble during the Red Line's construction, including a 1995 sinkhole that led to the project switching to a new contractor, led to a 1998 ballot proposition that banned revenue from existing sales taxes being used to dig subway tunnels in Los Angeles County, which put an end to expansion of the Red Line for the foreseeable future; the route to Warner Center was turned into a bus rapid transitway service. In the early 21st century, new sales tax Measures R and M were approved voters to provide funds for subway development.
While the Red Line does not figure into active expansion plans, several concepts have been proposed that would build off of it. Former Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has mentioned extending the Red Line from its current North Hollywood Station terminus along Lankershim Boulevard to the northeastern San Fernando Valley, with a terminus in Sylmar. One long-term possibility might be an underground extension of another mile or two to a future high-rise housing district, or to a multi-modal transportation hub station at Bob Hope Airport in Burbank, a distance of four miles, it would go under Oxnard Street, the NoHo West development, Laurel Canyon Blvd, Vanowen Street to the Burbank Airport. In 2006 a large number of housing units, including a high-rise tower was completed near the North Hollywood station. Planned high-rise housing developments further to the north, including the NoHo West development which broke ground in March 2017 and the possibility of establishing a direct connection to the planned California High-Speed Rail station at Burbank Airport have been suggested as additional justification for an extension of the line from its current terminus in North Hollywood.
In 2010, at the request of L. A. City Councilman Tom LaBonge, Metro staff studied the possibility of adding a station along the west bank of the Los Angeles River to 6th Street and Santa Fe Avenue; the study concluded that such an extension, completed at
Media related to Vermont / Athens (Los Angeles Metro station) at Wikimedia Commons
