Exactly a decade ago, the Gold Line light rail opened for business from Union Station to Sierra Madre Villa in east Pasadena. The Source notes that when the 13.7-mile line first began operations it only attracted about 14,000 riders per workday--now it has more than 44,000 weekday boardings on average. Though that number includes boardings on the 2009 eastside extension of the Gold Line into Little Tokyo, Boyle Heights, and East LA, it's still 70 percent of commuters riding the original segment. Over the course of a decade, the Gold Line carried 81 million people and took 11,335 cars off the road, eliminating 112,263 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions. The Gold Line is also known as the most picturesque ride on Metro, cruising past the Los Angeles State Historic Park, the San Gabriel Mountains, and the bungalows of Highland Park (the freeway section in Pasadena makes up for its aesthetic deficiencies with speed). The train has also shaved seven minutes off its run time from DTLA to East Pasadena, now taking only 29 minutes to traverse the whole northern route. Currently, the line is being extended 11.5 miles east to Azusa, with plans to stretch the eastern segment into either South El Monte or Whittier. When the Regional Connector line opens in DTLA, the Pasadena Gold Line will become part of the Blue Line, while the eastern section may keep the Gold moniker or become part of the Expo Line.
· Metro Gold Line Celebrates 10 Years of Progress [The Source]
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