New study says L Line (Gold Line) to Montclair would add 28,000 riders and boost Metrolink ridership – San Gabriel Valley Tribune, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin

The following excerpt appeared in the San Gabriel Valley Tribune and Inland Valley Daily Bulletin on August 1, 2020. To read the full article (may require subscription), click here.

New study says L Line to Montclair would add 28,000 riders and boost Metrolink ridership – San Gabriel Valley Tribune, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin

Carlos Benitez, left, Kiewitt Parsons Construction foreman, helps direct construction near 1036 W. Gladstone St. in San Dimas on Wednesday, July 29, 2020. A new study says the two passengers lines, Metrolink and Gold Line can work together and even increase passenger boardings on both. (Photo by Cindy Yamanaka, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

Carlos Benitez, left, Kiewitt Parsons Construction foreman, helps direct construction near 1036 W. Gladstone St. in San Dimas on Wednesday, July 29, 2020. A new study says the two passengers lines, Metrolink and Gold Line can work together and even increase passenger boardings on both. (Photo by Cindy Yamanaka, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

By Steve Scauzillo

August 1, 2020

[excerpt]:

A new study on expanding passenger train lines into the east San Gabriel Valley and the Inland Empire says two is better than one.

When the L Line, formerly known as the Gold Line, is built out to Pomona by 2025, it will mark the first time the light-rail train will overlap with Metrolink’s Los Angeles-to-San Bernardino commuter line, not counting Union Station in downtown L.A. If extra money is found to fund the L Line’s extension to Claremont and Montclair, however, that would make three “transfer stations” for passengers to change between the electric trolley line and Metrolink’s locomotive-driven commuter rail.

[…]

Here’s what the task force study found:

• Ridership on the L Line system in 2028 is expected to increase by 20,000 additional weekday boardings between Union Station and Pomona. The Pomona Station alone will see 6,600 boardings.

• At Montclair, the line could see an addition of 28,100 daily boardings, as passengers board new lines and new connections in Los Angeles County. Also, many commuters from the growing Inland Empire are expected to hop on the L Line to get to work in L.A. County without driving the congested 10 and 210 freeways.

• With the L Line at the Montclair TransCenter, the Metrolink service would not lose passengers, but gain them. The study says it would go from about 400 boardings to more than 1,200 boardings in 2028.

“That is a pretty significant jump, just at the Montclair Station,” said Richard Carney, principal project manager and transportation civil engineer at Mott MacDonald, an international consulting firm, on Tuesday, July 28.

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1 comment

  1. Catherine Leonard says:

    I recall looking forward to the initial opening of the Gold Line and using the trains at least two or three times a month to travel in to LA for fun and theatre, and to to access the Flyaway Bus to LA Airport. We often treated guests and visitors to ‘training’ days, to acquaint them to its use.
    Now, Metrolink trains have become an embarrassment. The trains themselves and Union Station restroom facilities are overwhelmed with homeless squatters who sleep on, trash trains, plug toilets in restrooms. While riding, I’ve made at least two phone calls to alert ‘authorities’ of someone smoking on the train once, and another time, to report aggressive and psychotic behavior of one of the passengers.
    I’ve seen the train authorities, sorry, I don’t know their official title, who seem to be completely at a loss as to how to deal with the encroachment of the erratic and trashy behavior of some of the homeless, who I have no issue with, other than the trash, destruction of public property and sometimes threatening behavior.
    My hope for expansion is that ridership rules will actually be enforced in the future.

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