Community Corner

Metro Expands Night Service on Trains to Hollywood

Starting Sunday, popular train lines to step up runs in an effort to increase ridership to entertainment hubs.

Trains will run more often at night on Los Angeles County's light rail and subways to Hollywood, Long Beach and Koreatown, it was announced Monday.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who also heads the board of the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, said the trains will be shorter to allow them to run every 10 minutes between 6 p.m. and midnight, seven days a week. Metro's Red, Purple and Blue lines currently run every 20 minutes during those hours.

The new hours are to go into effect on Sunday, Nov. 13.

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"L.A. doesn't roll up its sidewalks at sundown," said Villaraigosa, who was flanked by representatives of sports teams and cultural institutions during a morning news conference at the Music Center downtown.

The mayor said he hoped the expanded service would increase ridership to Staples Center, L.A. Live and the Music Center downtown, Hollywood and the NoHo Arts District.

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The Watts Village Theatre and the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, which are served by the Blue Line, were also represented at the news conference.

Cirque du Soleil is offering transit riders 20 percent off tickets to its show at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood. The Italian restaurant Buca di Beppo will give 10 percent off to diners who use Metro to get to its CityWalk location. Other deals are listed at metro.net/discounts.

"I get busier, so I have to employ more employees. So basically what you're doing by creating trains every 10 minutes [is] you're also creating jobs," Music Box owner Thaddeus Smith said.

Villaraigosa said the selected lines are the most heavily used of Metro's five rail lines.

He said he hoped the expanded service was successful and could be applied to the remaining Green and Gold lines by next year.

Metro will have to hire a few additional drivers, but officials do not expect the cost of the expanded service to run outside the lines' existing budgets.

—City News Service

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