Metro Starts to Run Additional Trains on Gold Line

In response to a “flood” of requests and complaints from Gold Line Foothill Extension riders, Metro began additional train service on the 31-mile Gold Line connecting Azusa to East Los Angeles on Sunday, Metro officials announced.

The Gold Line serves a major station in South Pasadena and six stations in Pasadena.

“The Metro Gold Line Extension has been a resounding success since it opened March 5, with trains consistently running at full occupancy,” said Mark Ridley-Thomas, L.A. County Supervisor and Metro Board Chair, in a statement. “The line has been so successful, that it has pushed us to up our game in order to meet our riders’ expectations. Today, we are proud to report that we have heard the public’s call for better service, and we are delivering a schedule with even greater frequency.”

Duarte City Councilmember John Fasana, First Vice Chairman of the Metro board, said all Gold Line trains will now run from Azusa to East Los Angeles, and starting Monday, trains are seven minutes apart during peak hours.

“Metro will now offer seven-minute schedules on the entire Gold Line between East Los Angeles and Azusa during peak day hours,” Fasana said in a press conference Friday. “Our new schedules will save riders in the cities of Arcadia, Monrovia, and Duarte at least five minutes of the time in catching their trains. Moreover we are eliminating the obligatory transfer at Sierra Madre Villa station in the middle of the freeway.”

With the change, all Gold Line trains will now run to the APU/Citrus College station every seven minutes in the morning and afternoon peak hours on weekdays. Trains previously ran every six minutes during peak hours between East Los Angeles and Pasadena and every 12 minutes between Pasadena and Azusa.

The change also means that riders bound for the new extension stations will no longer have to spend extra time waiting at Union Station for an Azusa-bound train, nor will they have to switch trains at Sierra Madre Villa Station in Pasadena.

Metro said it will be monitoring this service change as a pilot program over the next year and will make any additional changes to improve on-time performance and customer satisfaction.

The Gold Line is now Metro’s longest rail line, logging 50,000 boardings on an average weekday.