New Public Transit Options in L.A. Area Coming Soon with Expo, Orange Lines Additions

Metro's mass transit offerings in the Los Angeles area are getting a boost over the next week and a half with two awaited expansions in Culver City and in the San Fernando Valley.

On Wednesday, two stations that did not open when the Expo Line opened in late-April finally make their debut. At noon, the Farmdale Station near Dorsey High School and downtown Culver City Station both open, completing Phase 1 of the project, which goes 8.6 miles between downtown L.A. and Culver City. Phase 2 will carry passengers another 6.6 miles to near the ocean in Santa Monica by 2015, estimate Metro officials.

Then on June 30, the Orange Line, a dedicated busway that runs across 14 miles of the valley, will get an extra 4.1 miles with a northward expansion to the Chatsworth train station, which serves Metrolink and Amtrak. Orange Line buses currently run back and forth between the North Hollywood Red Line subway station and the Warner Center, a commercial hub. Now there will be three options:

• Between North Hollywood and Chatsworth, an approximately 51-minute ride.
• Between North Hollywood and Warner Center, which takes about 43 minutes.
• Between Chatsworth and Warner Center, which will take an estimated 18 minutes (peak hour "shuttles").

The Orange Line Extension will be the first project under Measure R, a voter-approved sales tax to fund transportation infrastructure, to be completed.
With reporting by Reut R. Cohen