This summer, USC students will be able to explore downtown Los Angeles and East L.A. more easily with the expansion of the Metro on June 16.
The Expo, or E line, which runs from downtown L.A. to Santa Monica and has two stops adjacent to USC, will be expanding into East L.A. and adding three new stops. The stops downtown are Little Tokyo/Arts District, Historic Broadway and Grand Avenue Arts/Bunker Hill.
While the Metro is useful for hitting the beach or venturing downtown, the E line’s easternmost stop was previously 7th Street/Metro Center. This meant that for students, most of downtown L.A. was inaccessible on public transportation without having to transfer onto another train line or bus.
Now, many of downtown’s famous landmarks, shopping centers and restaurants are a short ride away from USC. Here are some of the attractions less than a 10 minute walk away from the new Metro stops:
Historic Broadway: Grand Central Market, The Last Bookstore and Broadway Theater District
Grand Avenue Arts/Bunker Hill: The Broad, Angels Flight, Walt Disney Concert Hall and The Museum of Contemporary Art
Little Tokyo/Arts District: Japanese Village Plaza, the Japanese American National Museum and the Arts District’s many art galleries and trendy restaurants.
The E line originally opened in 2012 and connected downtown L.A. to Culver City. In 2016, it was expanded to connect Culver City to Santa Monica. This project, called the Regional Connector Transit project, began construction in 2014 and has cost $1.4 billion in funding. It was originally slated to open in 2020, but was delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic and construction difficulties.
To accommodate this change, the L line is being absorbed into the E line and the A line. The L line previously connected East L.A. to the San Gabriel Valley. Now, the A line will stretch from Long Beach to Azusa in the San Gabriel Valley while the E line goes from Santa Monica to East L.A. The color of the E line will also change from blue to gold.
To celebrate the opening, all Metro systems will be free from 3 a.m. Friday to 3 a.m. Monday.