The following article appeared on The Source on March 11, 2016.
You spoke, we (Metro) listened: parking update and Gold Line to have some longer trains on Monday – The Source
Photo by Steve Hymon/Metro.
By Dave Sotero
March 11, 2016
Some news today about parking on the Gold Line extension to Azusa:
• An extra rail car will be added to four Gold Line trains during weekday peak hours in the morning and evening to help with crowds. We know the trains have sometimes been very crowded during the height of the rush hour and hopefully this will take the edge off. Metro staff will be monitoring ridership so that the longer trains can be deployed when the most needed.
• Metro will soon be putting parking attendants at APU/Citrus College, Azusa Downtown and Irwindale stations between 5:00 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. on weekdays. The attendants will be helping patrons find spots at each station or direct them to another station where there is parking available. And to answer your next question: yes, the attendants will be talking to one another to monitor space availability at the garages.
The attendants will also have another key role: prevent people who aren’t using Metro from parking in Metro spaces in the garages. In addition, attendants will be posting signs when stations fill and will have direction handouts to help patrons find the other garages.
The Irwindale Garage is located just south of the 210 freeway on Irwindale Avenue. There is an entrance on the west side of Irwindale Ave. and from Avenida Padilla. Photo by Frank Ching/Metro.
• Also, Metro staff were at each of the stations on Tuesday and Wednesday counting how many cars were parked. As you can see from the chart below, the main challenge is at the two most eastern stations, Azusa Downtown and APU/Citrus College. Irwindale seems to be the better option.
Irwindale Station is located just south of the 210 freeway on Irwindale Avenue. It’s about 2.3 miles from Azusa Downtown Station if you take Foothill Boulevard to Irwindale Avenue. Or stay on the 210 freeway, exit Irwindale Avenue and turn south.
Interestingly — and not surprisingly — the parking at the six new stations seems to have taken some of the pressure of the Sierra Madre Villa Station garage that until Saturday was the previous final Gold Line Station.
Here are some tips for parking at the new stations or reaching them by other means:
Get there early. Arrive as early as you can to get your parking spot. While there are about 1,500 parking spaces available at six different stations, some stations, especially those in Azusa, are filling up early every morning.
Try another station. See the chart above.
Share the Ride. Carpool with a buddy or workmate to the station and ride the train together.
Kiss and Ride. Have someone drop you off at the station. Each station has a convenient passenger drop-off area.
Walk to the station. If you live close to the station, try walking instead. Each station features pedestrian-friendly improvements like enhanced crosswalks, sidewalks, pedestrian street lights, benches and ramps.
Ride a bike. Each station has up to 20 bike racks and 24 bike lockers for bicycle commuters.
Take a bus. There are numerous Metro, Foothill Transit and city-operated bus and shuttle lines that will bring you to new Gold Line stations from surrounding communities. Below is a complete list of connecting bus lines as well as other key station information:
Arcadia: Metro Line 79, Metro Line 487, Foothill Transit 187 and Arcadia Transit, which will operate a free (until June) shuttle bus running between the Gold Line, Santa Anita Park, Methodist Hospital, Westfield Mall and the Los Angeles County Arboretum (see below for map and timetable).
Monrovia: Metro Line 264, Metro Line 270, Foothill Transit 494.
Duarte/City of Hope: Metro Line 264, Metro Line 270, Foothill Transit 272, Duarte Transit Green and Blue lines (see below for map and timetable).
Irwindale: Foothill Transit 185.
Azusa Downtown: Foothill Transit 185, 187, 280, 494 and 496.
APU/Citrus College: Foothill Transit 187, 281, 284, 488.
Here’s the information on the bus systems in Arcadia and Duarte, both of which serve the new Gold Line station:
(click here to see the original Duarte Transit guide)
I happily walked east today from the condo-rich neighborhood just west of Monrovia station. We bought there in 2012 specifically because the train was coming. I was sad to discover that my route to the platform was littered with design choices that seem contrary to pedestrian access. Why can’t I get on the platform from the west? Why no crosswalk at Magnolia and Genoa? Seems like the whole design of the station presupposes that transit riders will arrive at the station in cars! Would love to see Metro and Monrovia extract some of these enhancements from future developers. A multi-family unit t is going in at Mayflower and Genoa, so more folks will be walking over to ride, and more private development could be asked to enhance pedestrian access.
Hi Mike,
The city did build a walkway north of the RR tracks, from Magnolia, as part of their Station Square project. The walkway gets pedestrians from the west to the platform entrances. You may want to talk to the city about future enhancements that they require built into developments.
Re: Azusa Citrus Station – Can’t get there from here…
Shame on Azusa!
The parking station is not only full, but there is no easily available alternative parking nearby. The street parking closest to the station is blocked by a steep hill and barricades to prevent easy pedestrian access. This is poor planning on behalf of city designers. The station might be compared to a castle surrounded by a moat filled with alligators. So much for ingress and egress.
My Story:
Our first trip to the station with grandchildren was on March 11th, and after consulting Google maps from home I was sure I would EASILY find the parking station closest to our home in LaVerne. Not so. While I was driving, my husband kept telling me in reference to map app: “You should be ON it. The map says it’s right HERE!” Only it wasn’t.
After stopping at Citrus College, and asking a parking attendant for advice which turned out to be unprofitable, we stopped in an APU parking lot, and asked the policeman if he could direct us. He gave directions, then said: “Hey, just follow me. I’ll take you there.” Then he got lost. Finally, he pulled over to checked for directions, before we were off again. We arrived at the station and of course, all spots were filled. We then found and parked in an open street spot directly across from the station (as a crow flies) but had to walk four blocks around the perimeter, because all direct easement to station were barricaded. What a joke!
All the publicity and excitement to open this lovely station and Azusa did not show the foresight or good neighbor faith to make this station accessible! It is shameful to me that public monies are spent and a city uses the benefits with an eye toward monetary gain, and building neighborhoods which block access to public, rather than providing a public ingress and egress that would really make using public transit accessible.
Shame on you Azusa. The people in the neighboring condos and the public have a right to be angry with you.
PS. On leaving the station, we overheard yet another woman asking if the street directly outside the station wasn’t ‘Citrus’. Poor woman was expecting to be picked up by a friend. The station helpers were very solicitous and tried to help her… (we kept walking, but I realized it was another snafu. )
People that are riding the train are parking on Alameda. We already have a parking problem with the residence on the street. Add more cars to the mix and the residence that live on Alameda have no parking places. You need to have monitors in place to keep people that ride the train off the street.
Please add another parking structure the APU/ Citrus station as its full by 630 AM and the Azusa target station is full by 7. Now the Irwindale parking structure will be full by 730. The demand to ride is VERY HIGH.
Tell us that it will be considered, PLEASE!
More Parking!!! (Cafe’s or small restaurant would also be nice!)
Agreed! Parking at each station is imperative, and when not provided it undermines the intended uses of the project. To not consider parking needs generated by these lines and at each station is shortsighted in the extreme. The new housing and apartments nearby the Azusa station is all very nice, but the ire of those residents whose street parking is clogged is understandable, as is the frustration of the riders coming from the East who wish to ride and can’t find convenient parking. Poor planning on the city’s part, and something the metro planners may not have had the power to control, but I wish they did!
C. Leonard