The Brief

Starting today, some L.A. Metro trains will be running more frequently to match increasing ridership. While light rail numbers are not yet back to pre-pandemic levels, they’re slowly closing the gap as Metro continues to expand its offerings around the city.

The A and E Lines

The A and E Lines — which provide service from Azusa to Long Beach and Santa Monica to East L.A. respectively — will see reduced wait times in both peak and off-peak hours.

Weekday trains in the morning and afternoon peak hours will arrive every eight minutes instead of every 10 minutes. Trains outside of typical commute times — midday during the week and from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. on the weekends — will operate every 10 minutes instead of every 12 minutes.

The A and E Lines also will see two more trains running in each direction every night, adding an extra 40 minutes of service to the current schedule.

The C and K Lines

The C and K Lines — which run from Norwalk to Redondo Beach and Crenshaw to (eventually) LAX — are also seeing more frequent trains during off-peak hours.

The C Line will see the biggest cut in wait time between trains, from every 15 minutes to every 10 minutes midday Monday through Friday and from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. on the weekends.

The K Line will also run every 10 minutes midday during the week, down from every 12 minutes — but on the weekends, trains will only come every 20 minutes to accommodate construction and testing as Metro works to connect the C and K lines and extend service to LAX.

Weekday service during peak commute hours will remain every 10 minutes for both the C and K lines.

Metro Regional Connector's ribbon cutting opening ceremony in June 2023 at the Little Tokyo/ArtsDistrict Station.

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Juan Ocampo

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L.A. Metro

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The off-peak hours

Metro’s Senior Executive Officer responsible for service development, Joseph Forgiarini, said that ridership outside of typical commute hours has grown even beyond pre-pandemic levels.

“We do see the off-peak ridership as a more important part of our ridership base than ever before,” he said. “We do carry obviously a lot of workers who are not 9 - 5 traditional office workers. Many of them are service workers who are covering the retail day or the evening restaurant work.”

He also says that weekend ridership is rebounding even stronger than weekdays — partly because of the Metro Regional Connector stations that opened downtown this June.

“Places like Little Tokyo on the Regional Connector — that station's really busy all week. It's really become a destination station for all of the great activities you can do down in that area,” he said. “And of course we have a new station at Bunker Hill as well that's closer to some of the entertainment up in that area, like the Disney Hall.”

Metro's K Line

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L.A. Metro

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What about the K Line?

Metro’s K Line — which connects to the E Line at Expo/Crenshaw and will eventually run all the way to LAX — sees a lot fewer passengers than any other Metro rail line. In October 2023, Metro estimates the K Line had just over 2,100 passengers on any given weekday, compared to the C Line’s estimates of about 19,500.

Still, Metro is increasing the K Line’s frequency during off-peak hours to provide a better transfer experience for riders coming from the E line.

“The Crenshaw Expo Station, that's the busiest on the line there,” Forgiarini said. “And, you know, when we get the K Line opened up to LAX as well, we totally expect there'll be even more transferring as that'll be one of the key paths into the airport.”

Metro plans to get the K Line running every 10 minutes as soon as construction on the LAX/Metro Transit Center Station and the C-K connection is completed. It’s currently aiming to open the new station and connection in late 2024, but hopes to wrap up construction and increase the K Line’s weekend frequency by May 4 of next year.

You can find all of this information and more, including bus schedule changes that also start today, on Metro’s blog, The Source.