Metro Los Angeles: a scheme, description, history and interesting facts

In our time of traveling around the world, tourists are very interested in the system and service of public transport in cities of different countries. Especially it concerns the American megacities. After all, moving around big cities on buses, if you do not have your own car, is not too convenient. And if you're in a hurry and get into a traffic jam? Previously, a lot of complaints in this regard, called Los Angeles. Travelers criticized the city for the virtual absence of public transport. But in the last twenty or thirty years a lot has changed. The city laid new routes and even launched subway lines. So is there a subway in Los Angeles? We will look at this issue below, give you tips on how to use it better, and tell you how convenient it is to see the city.

What it is

Metro Los Angeles appeared recently. It was opened in 1990. Now there are as many as six lines working there. But there are only two underground ones. The rest are just kind of urban rail transport. However, administratively they are related to the subway. More than three hundred thousand people use it annually. Of course, such a figure is incomparable with the workload of the European subway, but it should be borne in mind that this is a relatively new transport. In addition, the number of passengers increases every year. After all, gasoline prices are rising, besides, you should not think about the rules of the road, fool yourself with the search for parking. We reached the necessary station, left and went to where you need to get.

History

Not everyone knows that in the City of Angels in the nineteenth century was the largest and most ramified tram network in the world. But since the thirties of the twentieth century, when all got their own cars, the popularity of this type of transport has fallen dramatically. In 1963 the last tramway route was closed. We can say that since then, urban public transport in Los Angeles has disappeared altogether. Although they offered several projects of free monorail lines for the city, the municipality regularly rejected them. It was not helped by the intervention of celebrities and famous people (a petition for the introduction of public transport in the city was signed by even a world-renowned fantasy Ray Bradbury). The fact is that the city council wanted to slow down the growth rate of the urban population. Its members believed that cheap transport would attract more people to Los Angeles. But by the nineties of the last century it became clear that a huge number of traffic jams and gas contamination only aggravated the problem. Then the city authorities surrendered and decided to create a subway in Los Angeles.

Structure

When you go into the train car, you see soft, beautiful seats. Everywhere cleanliness and order. The stations are decorated in an original design style. And due to the fact that most of the subway lines of Los Angeles are overground, you see beautiful views from the window. This type of urban transport consists of three networks, each of which is a separate view of it. First of all, this is a real underground or "heavy" metro. It is supplied with electricity through the contact rails. Secondly, it is an overground railway or a "light" subway. In addition, there are special buses that operate on certain routes (road corridors) and tunnels, and also have priority on common routes.

Heavy subway in Los Angeles: circuit, description

It actually consists of two lines. This is the Red and Violet branches. The first of them connects the central and north-western parts of the city. It is also called line A or 802. It starts at the station "Union" and reaches the "North Hollywood". In the early nineties, this line only went to Westlake / MacArthur Park. Then, in 1996, it was continued to Hollywood Boulevard. And in the two thousand years Red branch began to reach the "Universal City" and "North Hollywood". The purple line also leaves the center - from the Union, but after Westlake / MacArthur Park station goes west. The fact is that before it was part of the Red branch. Then, in 1996, they laid a separate site to the area of Mid-Wilshire. And in 1999, the Violet branch became a full line of the Los Angeles metro. There are plans to build its tunnels further, to Beverly Hills. On these branches there are Italian trains "Breda". Each of them has six cars.

What is a light metro?

The first line of this land city railway was opened at the very beginning of construction, in 1990. It is called Blue and connects the center with Long Beach. Its initial station is "Seventh Street". From it there is a transition to the station "Union". This line goes to the south. Prior to Pico station, it passes under the ground, and then becomes outdoor. Having reached Anaheim, its route becomes circular. It passes through four stations, located as if along a loop, and returns back. It is called the B line or the 801th. The green line is laid from Norvok to Redondo Beach. She can get to the station "Century", from where there is a connection to the airport of the city. This line is D (803). At the station "Imperial" it intersects with the Blue branch.

The gold line (C or 804th) goes from the center to the northeast to Pasadena. It was opened in 2003. The line ends at the Sierra Madre Villa station, but most likely it will be stretched to the Atlantic. The newest branch is "Expo", or "Aqua". It goes from the center along the Blue line, and then leaves to the west, just above the Violet. So far, the site has been opened to Culver City, but soon Santa Monica station, right on the Pacific coast, should open. The light metro in Los Angeles uses Japanese trains "Nippon Shario" or German wagons of the company "Simmens". The latter represent a cross between the tram and the S-Bann.

Metrobus

These are special routes of public transport. The metro scheme of Los Angeles also includes them. These are two lines - Orange and Silver. The first has thirteen stops and a length of more than twenty kilometers. She intends to extend to the Chatsworth railway station. A silver branch with nine stations goes through the center from the "Harbor Gatwey Transit" to "El Monte". These lines use the Metro Line. These are silvery articulated buses up to twenty meters in length. For them, special lanes on the tracks, tunnels and special road corridors are identified. Buses are high-speed, and their stops are a mile apart. They are also called "wagons on tires".

How to ride

All subway lines operate from 4am to midnight. To use them, you need to buy a ticket that costs $ 1.25 once in any direction regardless of the distance. The use of each line must be paid separately. There are travel tickets for a day, a week or a month. It is advantageous to use them when you often travel by metro. You can still buy a travel card, the so-called TAP cost per dollar. It is sold in vending machines at any station. Then it is replenished depending on the number of trips. Booklets with a schedule are located at all stations and in wagons. On weekends and holidays, the number of flights is reduced, but the trains run until two in the morning. The interval between flights is 5-10 minutes a rush hour, up to 20 minutes in the evening. Turnstiles in the subway there, but not at all stations, and you can go free. There are only validators. But the presence of valid tickets can check the special police.

Overview of Los Angeles with metro stations

On this type of transport you can reach almost all the sights of the city. His heart and main office is in the center of Los Angeles, in the building of the railway station, above the station "Union". You can get here by subway from the airport. There are about a hundred stations here. In fact, Los Angeles is a huge metropolis, consisting of ninety cities. This is Hollywood, and Santa Monica, and Malibu, and many others. Without public transport, travelers who are not motorists would have a hard time. But the extensive metro system helps tourists easily get to Hollywood, Oliver Street, the Memorial Park, Chinatown and Little Tokyo, the Norton Simon Museum and Long Beach. True, before Beverly Hills can only be reached by car or by excursion bus, but in a year or two this problem will be solved.