History
As part of the consent decree signed by Caltrans in 1972 to allow construction of the fiercely opposed Century Freeway, provisions were made for a transit corridor (without designating the type thereof) in the freeway's median. In the original Metro Rail master plan of the early 1980s, this corridor was designated as a light rail line.
Construction on the Green Line began in 1987. One of the reasons for construction was that the Green Line would serve the aerospace and defense industries in the El Segundo area. Construction of the line cost $718 million. By the time the Green Line opened in 1995, the Cold War was over, and the aerospace sector was hemorrhaging jobs. Furthermore, during the 1980s, the bedroom communities in the Gateway Cities region of southeastern Los Angeles County were rapidly losing their population of middle-class aerospace workers (primarily whites and blacks), a process that radically accelerated in the early 1990s. The working-class and poor Hispanics who filled the vacuum generally had no connection to the aerospace sector. This rationale for Green Line construction was a principal argument cited by the Bus Riders Union when it contended that MTA was focusing its efforts on serving middle-class whites and not working-class minorities. As a result, ridership has been below projected estimates, averaging approximately 44,000 daily weekday boardings in June 2008.
At the time the Green Line opened, the line used train cars made by Nippon Sharyo similar to those used on the Metro Blue Line. In 2000, the Nippon Sharyo train cars were transferred to the Blue Line and the Green Line received new train cars made by Siemens.
The Green Line's western alignment was originally planned and partially constructed to connect with LAX, but the airport was planning a major remodeling during the line's construction. Los Angeles World Airports wanted the connection to LAX to be integrated with this construction, but there were concerns that the overhead lines of the rail would interfere with the landing paths of airplanes. In addition, citizens of neighboring communities to LAX opposed the expansion of the airport, and owners of parking lots surrounding LAX feared that a train operating to LAX would create competition, since there is ample free parking at numerous points along the Green Line. As a compromise, a free shuttle from Aviation station station transports riders to LAX. Today, passengers on the Green Line can see the provision for the LAX extension—two concrete ramp stubs west of the Aviation/LAX station.
The Green Line's eastern terminus also suffers from the fact that it stops two miles (3 km) short of the heavily used Norwalk/Santa Fe Springs Metrolink station, where several Metrolink lines operate. Local bus service is provided between the Metrolink station and the Green Line terminus, but schedules are not coordinated with Green Line arrivals. Because of this, and the Green Line's re-routed western alignment away from LAX, critics have labeled the Green Line as a train that goes "from nowhere to nowhere." The Green Line is the only Metro rail line not to serve Downtown Los Angeles. Transfers to the Blue Line can be made at the Willowbrook station by downtown-bound riders.
In 2007, the Metro Green Line began placing advertisement banners on the sides of trains, similar to those on the Gold Line. The advertisement banners briefly ceased before returning in April 2009.
During September 2012, the automated voice speaker of the trains was updated so that it can reflect the station name changes of Vermont/Athens Station and Willowbrook Station. In addition, the voice speaker now includes the connection to the Metro Silver Line at Harbor Freeway Station. Before this, riders were not aware that the Metro Green Line connects with the Metro Silver Line at Harbor Freeway Station.
Read more about this topic: Green Line (Los Angeles Metro)
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