u/Cold-Improvement6778

Hey everyone! I'm u/Cold-Improvement6778, a founding moderator of r/LA\_Transit.

This is our new home for all things related to Transit and Housing.

We're excited to have you join us!

What to Post

Post anything that you think the community would find interesting, helpful, or inspiring.

Feel free to share your thoughts, photos, or questions about transit and housing.

Community Vibe

We're all about being friendly, constructive, and inclusive.

Let's build a space where everyone feels comfortable sharing and connecting.

How to Get Started

1. Introduce yourself in the comments below.

2. Post something today! Even a simple question can spark a great conversation.

3. If you know someone who would love this community, invite them to join.

4. Interested in helping out?

We're always looking for new moderators, so feel free to reach out to me to apply.

Thanks for being part of the very first wave.

Together, let's make r/LA\_Transit amazing.

Hey everyone! I'm u/Cold-Improvement6778, a founding moderator of r/LA_Transit.

This is our new home for all things related to Transit and Housing.

We're excited to have you join us!

What to Post

Post anything that you think the community would find interesting, helpful, or inspiring.

Feel free to share your thoughts, photos, or questions about transit and housing.

Community Vibe

We're all about being friendly, constructive, and inclusive.

Let's build a space where everyone feels comfortable sharing and connecting.

How to Get Started

1. Introduce yourself in the comments below.

2. Post something today! Even a simple question can spark a great conversation.

3. If you know someone who would love this community, invite them to join.

4. Interested in helping out?

We're always looking for new moderators, so feel free to reach out to me to apply.

Thanks for being part of the very first wave.

Together, let's make r/LA_Transit amazing.

They did a really awesome job in encouraging AX attendees to use Metro, especially with things like the construction going on at the LA Convention Center, the closure of Figueroa for food trucks/vendors, the crazy jacked up parking rates, World Cup watch parties happening at the same time, etc.

On Fri and Sat last week, a lot of the attendees were also going to the Hololive concert at the Shrine Auditorium so the E line was packed going between Pico and Jefferson/USC, but it again highlighted the need to have signal pre-emption, ideally grade separate the line, and expand the narrow platform because both Pico and Jefferson/USC was dangerously overflowing and was going sooooo slow. OTOH, it showed that Metro can work to move lots of people at 10-11PM despite a lot of people say Metro is unsafe at night.

One thing though was I wish they coordinated, promoted more info and not forget the J Line exists because a lot of the attendees also come from the South Bay area. Not many people were using the J Line despite the detour stop in the northbound heading was at Olive/Pico which is still a well manageable walk to the convention center and a good alternative to the packed A/E line, or be dropped off one stop before at Figueroa/Washington which is a shorter walk to the queue line. Things like this should be worked out more closely between Metro and AX.

Lot of long lines for people waiting to buy TAP cards and reloading them at the TVM when you don't have to do this anymore. It would've been a good opportunity to have signs promoting TAP PLUS more because maybe they haven't gotten the message yet.

Well today I did it, finally for the first time rode Metrolink via the San Bernardino line to get to LA Union station and then ride the A line to get to LA convention center for anime expo.

Gotta say, the actual ride was very good, very smooth, got there within a reasonable time and found it to be a fairly stress free and affordable experience, did have some thoughts on the matter though, for one: SB 79 can NOT come soon enough, one thing I noticed while riding Metrolink was that for a lot of these stations they’re either in the middle of an area of town people don’t typically go to or even live near, OR, it was mostly a big park and ride station. There was only a few stations where it felt as though the station was located in a logical area where it could be of use, one super bizarre location that stood out to me was the Redlands esri station, it’s quite literally just a isolated island station that makes no sense for it to be located there, where every other station has some logical basis for the most part. High density housing for sure needs to be built around these stations along with even some commercial areas that would attract people to visit. I think downtown Redlands has a lot of potential in this regard

Second: I REALLY loved the actual LA metro, holy crap, it’s a great ride and is very simple to use, it felt daunting going into it as someone who’s never ridden public transit until now where it’s actually a fairly easy breezy process. It also seemed really busy, both metro and Metrolink, which is great and makes it feel more alive.

Third: Is the tap card sometimes useless? To preface, I was under the assumption my Metrolink ticket would be enough to get free transfers onto the LA metro, but when I tried scanning it it didn’t work, ok, that’s fine, I’ll get the tap card since I’m still saving money either way compared to if I drove and bought parking. My girlfriend and I both tried getting tap cards but it seemed like such a bizarre process, it gave you the option of loading up the cards with specific amounts, we both chose the 3.50 option since that would be enough for a two way trip from little Tokyo to the convention center then back, then for whatever reason the kiosk said this wasn’t enough money to put in, what? Why even provide that as an option then? Ok well whatever, we bump it up to about 5, we get our cards and go to scan in, both of our cards say error and don’t even work, I do it twice more and it randomly finally accepts and lets me go, for her, all it said was “already scanned” and doesn’t allow her to go in, she has to go load it up again, then comes back, it does literally the same thing again, at that point I told her to just come under the turnstile since she basically paid twice. Had no clue what we did wrong, I eventually decided maybe if I just added the tap card to my wallet on iPhone it would work better and sure enough it had no issues once we left the convention center. Well that sucks, wasted a few more dollars unnecessarily just because the cards refused to work, kind of soured the overall experience in that regard. Wasn’t any security or workers in the area to maybe help so we just had to wing it. I’m new to all this evidently so if people want to provide some insight in the comments for future use please let me know what I did wrong or any other advice.

Fourth and finally: I REALLY wish service for Metrolink went later, because I would LOVE to use it if I went to LA for laker games or dodger games. I hate the hassle of finding parking and paying exorbitant prices for said parking when there’s a perfectly good metro system available in the city to use. As it stands, it’s only really feasible for me if I specifically have a day trip in mind like today, latest train from LA to Redlands was at 7:38 which was fine in this case since I was there since 10:30 and we both were tuckered out, say I wanted to catch the dodger game tonight? Well, tough luck buddy.

Regardless, I enjoyed my time on the rails quite a lot, and would recommend it to anyone I know if they wanted to head to LA for one thing or another. Maybe next time I’ll use it for a trip to the beach or something

❗️ATTENTION ❗️Public Broadway Bus Priority Lanes meeting coming up Monday, June 1st 6-7 pm

ISSUE SUMMARY: 
Metro is proposing Broadway Bus Priority Lanes along Broadway through DTLA, from Cesar Chavez Avenue to Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, as part of improvements to Metro Line 45.

Metro’s project materials describe full-time bus priority lanes, along with related improvements such as bus stop upgrades, ADA curb ramps, pedestrian lighting, sidewalk repair, street trees, wayfinding, and transit signal priority.

The immediate concern is that many people who live, work, own property, operate businesses, manage spaces, or rely on Broadway access feel they only recently became aware of the scope and potential impacts.

IMPORTANT FRAMING
This should not be framed as anti-transit.

A lot of DTLA residents and stakeholders support better transit, walkability, safer streets, rail, and thoughtful mobility improvements.

The concern is whether Broadway is the right corridor for this specific configuration and whether Metro has meaningfully accounted for how the Historic Core/Broadway corridor actually functions day to day.

WHY BROADWAY IS COMPLICATED
Broadway is not just a commuter street.
It also functions as:
• a residential corridor
• a small business corridor
• a hospitality/restaurant corridor
• a historic theater district
• a filming and production corridor
• a tourism/nightlife corridor
• a loading/service corridor
• a community gathering corridor

MAIN STAKEHOLDER CONCERNS
Potential impacts people are concerned about include:
• loading zones
• hotel and restaurant drop-offs
• rideshare access
• delivery/vendor access
• accessibility for elderly and disabled residents, visitors, and patrons
• film/TV production load-in/load-out
• historic theater and event operations
• outdoor dining/community spaces
• traffic displacement onto adjacent streets
• loss of curb functionality for businesses, residents, and venues

PROCESS / OUTREACH CONCERN
Many stakeholders feel the outreach timeline has been very compressed given the scale of the proposal.
Mailers appear to have arrived only a few days before the Monday meeting for some corridor stakeholders.
People are asking for more transparency, direct outreach, and public discussion before major corridor changes move forward.

POSSIBLE QUESTIONS / ANGLES TO RAISE
Rather than simply saying “stop this,” the stronger message is:
• Has Metro fully studied alternatives?
• Why was Broadway selected for this configuration?
• Was Hill Street studied as an alternative?
• Was a Broadway/Hill paired route studied?
• Were center-running or median-protected designs studied?
• How will curb access be preserved?
• How will loading zones work?
• How will hotels, restaurants, residences, theaters, and production shoots function?

• Were FilmLA, location managers, theater operators, hotel operators, restaurant owners, HOAs, and local businesses consulted?
• How will comments from Monday’s meeting affect the design before anything is finalized?

POSSIBLE ALTERNATIVE DISCUSSION
Some stakeholders feel neighboring Hill Street may deserve serious study because it appears to have wider roadway geometry and an existing center-lane condition.

Some are also interested in whether a paired Broadway/Hill approach or center-running configuration could better preserve Broadway’s curb access while still supporting transit priority.

This is not a finalized technical recommendation, just something stakeholders want Metro to publicly address and compare.

CALL TO ACTION
Metro is holding a virtual community meeting:
Monday, June 1, 2026
6:00 PM
(QR code to meeting in comments)

\*\*\*Accuracy note\*\*\*
Metro’s current project language describes this as the “Broadway Bus Priority Lanes” project, not necessarily a full Bus Rapid Transit/BRT project.
For accuracy, it’s safest to say:“bus priority lanes,” “dedicated bus priority lanes,” or “full-time bus priority lanes for Metro Line 45.”

Avoid calling it “BRT” unless Metro uses that term directly in the meeting or official materials.
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