July 1990 - Rail Transit Returns To Southern California

On July 14, 1990, the Metro Blue Line light rail route opened, signifying the return of rail transit in Southern California for the first time in 27 years.

Beginning in the 1890s, electric streetcars, trolleys, and interurban trains ran all over Southern California before the freeway era. Henry Huntington's Pacific Electric Railway ran 1,100 miles of rail routes from Newport Beach to Northridge, and from Santa Monica to Redlands. The last of the Red Cars ran in April 1961. The Yellow Cars of the Los Angeles Railway (later L.A. Transit Lines), a smaller streetcar system serving urban L.A., were the last to run -- the final streetcars were discontinued in March 1963. The lack of financial sustainability of the privately-owned trolley systems, coupled with the growing popularity of the automobile, were among the main factors for their demise.

Proposals for reviving rail transit were discussed through the '60s and '70s, but the lack of political will and public support caused them to lose traction.

It wasn't until 1980, after decades of traffic and smog, when L.A. County voters passed Proposition A, a half-cent sales tax increase to fund a modern rail transit system and freeway improvements. The Southern California Rapid Transit District (RTD), at the insistence of L.A. Mayor Tom Bradley, proposed a subway line from downtown L.A. to the San Fernando Valley, albeit one that would come at great cost and take several years to finish.

In 1982, L.A. County Supervisor Kenneth Hahn took civic officials to the top of L.A. City Hall to survey a stretch of land that, until 21 years earlier, had served the old Red Cars. He envisioned a light rail transit line on that same corridor from downtown L.A. to Long Beach, similar to the light rail system San Diego inaugurated earlier that year, that was funded by Prop A funds, which could be built at a relatively low cost, in a shorter construction span.

The RTD's Metro Rail subway broke ground in 1986, and Hahn's 22-mile trolley line, then known as the Los Angeles to Long Beach Rail Transit Project, began construction the year after, built by the L.A. County Transportation Commission (LACTC).

Three years and $877 million later, Hahn's trolley, officially named the Metro Blue Line and operated by the RTD, opened on a hot summer day, on Saturday, July 14, 1990. It was the first time rail transit served Southern California in nearly three decades. Civic officials, including Bradley and Hahn, were on hand to dedicate the new rail line and celebrate a vision fulfilled. The public was treated to free rides the entire weekend.

The opening of the Metro Blue Line kicked off a Southern California rail renaissance in a huge way: Over the next five years, the region witnessed the opening of the multi-county Metrolink commuter rail system in October 1992, the first 4-mile segment of the Metro Red Line subway in January 1993, and the August 1995 inauguration of the 20-mile Metro Green Line, running from Norwalk to the South Bay and connecting to the Blue Line mid-way. In 1993, the RTD and the LACTC merged to become the L.A. County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, now known as Metro.

The 1990s began with zero miles of rail transit in Southern California, and ended with 380 miles of light rail, subway, and commuter rail lines. Today, the Metro Blue Line carries over 87,500 riders each weekday -- one of the highest-ridership light rail lines in the country, and is part of a still-growing 87.7 Metro Rail system, which, combined with the 388-mile Metrolink commuter rail system, provide commuting options for Southern Californians.