TRANSITOn June 16, 2023, the Regional Connector Transit Project opened its three new stations beneath Downtown Los Angeles, completing a 1.9-mile subway segment that connected the Metro A Line (Blue), E Line (Expo), and L Line (Gold) into a unified through-running network for the first time. The $1.75 billion project—planned since the 1990s, funded through Measure R, and constructed over eight years—fundamentally changed how passengers move through downtown and across the Los Angeles Basin. This analysis examines the operational and ridership impact over the project's first three years.
Project Background: Three Decades in the Making
The concept of connecting Los Angeles's separate light rail lines through downtown dates to the earliest planning for the Metro A Line (Blue Line) in the late 1980s. When the A Line opened in 1990 with its downtown terminus at 7th Street/Metro Center, planners recognized that riders traveling beyond downtown—from Long Beach toward East Los Angeles, or from Azusa toward Santa Monica—were required to transfer at 7th Street or Union Station, adding time and inconvenience to their journeys.
The Regional Connector was conceived as the missing link: a short subway segment beneath downtown that would allow trains from Long Beach (A Line), Santa Monica (E Line), and Azusa/East LA (L Line) to pass through downtown without requiring passengers to change trains. This "through-running" model—standard on European and Asian urban rail networks— eliminates the downtown transfer penalty entirely for many trip pairs.
Measure R (2008) provided the primary funding mechanism for the Regional Connector, allocating $160 million in local funds. Federal New Starts funding covered the balance, with the Full Funding Grant Agreement executed in 2016. Construction began in 2014, with substantial completion achieved in early 2023 after schedule delays related to utility conflicts and COVID-19 supply chain disruptions.
The Three New Stations
The Regional Connector added three underground stations to the Metro system:
- DTLA/Grand Ave Arts: Located at Grand Avenue and Second Street, adjacent to the Music Center, Broad Museum, and the developing Grand Park corridor. This station serves the cultural core of downtown and provides access to county government offices.
- Pershing Square: At Fifth Street and Olive Street, connecting to the existing B Line and D Line Pershing Square station via a pedestrian concourse. This interchange creates a major multi-line transfer node at the center of the downtown grid.
- Little Tokyo/Arts District: At Second and Alameda Streets, serving the Little Tokyo historic district and the rapidly developing Arts District neighborhood. This station fills a gap in Metro coverage of eastern downtown.
Through-Running Operations: New Routing Logic
The Regional Connector's operational impact is best understood through the new through-routes it enabled. Pre-Regional Connector, the A Line terminated at 7th Street/Metro Center and the L Line terminated at Union Station/Little Tokyo. Passengers traveling from Long Beach to East Los Angeles or from Azusa to Santa Monica required at least one downtown transfer.
| Route Pair | Pre-2023 (transfers required) | Post-2023 (through-running) | Time Savings |
|---|---|---|---|
| Long Beach → Azusa | Transfer at 7th/Metro or Union Station | One-seat through-running via Regional Connector | 8–14 min |
| Santa Monica → East LA | Transfer at 7th/Metro Center (E to A) | Through-running via Regional Connector | 6–10 min |
| Redondo → Montclair | Transfer required; complex routing | Single transfer at Willowbrook (A/C) | Variable |
| Santa Monica → Azusa | Transfer required at 7th/Metro | Through-running on A Line via connector | 10–15 min |
Ridership Impact: Three Years of Data
LACMTA's National Transit Database filings for fiscal years 2023–24 and 2024–25 show measurable ridership growth on the A, E, and L Lines following the Regional Connector opening, outpacing the system-wide post-pandemic recovery trend. The A Line recorded an increase in average weekday boardings from approximately 52,000 in FY22 to 67,000 in FY25—a 29% increase that LACMTA attributes primarily to through-routing attracting new trip pairs.
The Little Tokyo/Arts District station has performed above pre-opening projections, driven by rapid residential development in the Arts District since 2022 and the station's access to the L Line's Azusa service. DTLA/Grand Ave Arts station performance has been somewhat below projection, reflecting the slower-than-anticipated return of downtown office occupancy in the post-pandemic environment.
Critically, transfer volumes at 7th Street/Metro Center declined following the Regional Connector opening, as passengers who previously changed trains there began using the through-routes. This reduced platform crowding at 7th Street and improved dwell time adherence on the A and E Lines—a secondary operational benefit not always captured in ridership-focused analyses.
Airport Connectivity: The Regional Connector–LAX Pathway
One of the Regional Connector's most significant practical impacts has been improving transit access to LAX, even before the Airport Metro Connector APM is operational. The through-running from Long Beach to Azusa creates a continuous rail path from LAX- adjacent stations (including Aviation/LAX on the C Line, connected to the A Line at Willowbrook) through downtown to Pasadena—a journey that previously required two downtown transfers.
Combined with the K Line (Crenshaw/LAX, opened 2022), which connects the Aviation corridor to Expo/Crenshaw and the E Line, the Regional Connector has materially improved transit access to LAX from the Westside, San Gabriel Valley, and Long Beach. This improvement in airport connectivity is an important precursor to the Airport Metro Connector APM that will complete the LAX rail link for the 2028 Olympic Games.
Construction Lessons and Cost Escalation
The Regional Connector's final cost of $1.75 billion represented an increase from the $1.42 billion estimate at project approval in 2016. The primary cost drivers included utility conflicts discovered during excavation beneath Second Street, requiring unplanned utility relocation work; labor rate escalation; and COVID-19 related supply chain disruptions that extended the construction schedule by approximately 14 months.
The project used a design-build delivery method, with a joint venture of Skanska, Traylor Bros., and Shea Construction as the general contractor. Post-project evaluation by LACMTA's Inspector General identified opportunities for earlier utility survey work as a key lesson—utility conflicts are a recurring source of cost escalation in downtown LA subway construction, having affected the Metro B Line's Phase 1 construction in the 1980s as well. See the LACTC and B Line history for the historical parallel.
Legacy: What the Regional Connector Changed
The Regional Connector transformed the Metro Rail network from a collection of separate lines requiring downtown transfers to an interconnected through-running system. This transformation has implications beyond ridership: it changes how LACMTA plans service, how passengers perceive the network, and how the system competes with private automobiles for trips that span multiple former line segments.
For the 2028 Olympics, the Regional Connector is essential infrastructure. The through- running routes it enables allow LACMTA to operate high-frequency service from venue clusters in Long Beach and Pasadena through downtown to the Westside—a service pattern that would have been operationally impossible without the downtown connection. The funding and planning mechanisms that made the Regional Connector possible are described in the Transportation 101 guide.