Trolley Tuesday 9/28/21 - The Lines of the LA Metro

There are some who say that less is more, but not so in rapid transit circles. After all, to move the almost 4 million people who call Los Angeles home, one would need a more substantial mass-transit railway than the six lines we have today. And yet, in the same vein as their predecessors in the Pacific Electric (PE) and Los Angeles Railways (LARy), the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transit Authority (or LACMTA, just the "Metro" for short) continues to provide the best possible service in a county both supportive, disappointed, and downright hostile to its light rail and subway systems. On today's Trolley Tuesday, we take a brief look at each line and what makes it special after discussing their origins last week, so please grab your TAP card, mind the doors, and enjoy a ride on the Metro!

Trolley Thursday 9/23/21 - The (Very Dense) History of the LA Metro

Over one-hundred years ago, the city of Los Angeles boasted the finest interurban transit system in the world, spanning three counties with over one thousand miles of track. The Pacific Electric Railway (PE) hauled everything from daily commuters and freight to special horse-racing and Catalina ferry trains and became inexorably linked to Los Angeles' identity as it recovered from World War II. And then... it was gone.

Today, the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transit District (better known as the LAMTA) seeks to reinvigorate what we lost in the wake of the PE and the Los Angeles Railway (LARy) being shut down in favor of increased bus use and car-centric road design. Despite having only a tenth of PE's tracks, LA's light rail and subways continue to look ever forward to that final frontier of efficient rapid transit, and it's why we are highlighting its history on today's Trolley Thursday!