MultiModal Weekend (Part III)

Having taken a bike on Friday afternoon, a car on Friday night, and a walk to the bus on Saturday (both ways), we knew we had to take a train on Sunday.  Luckily, it was a CicLAvia (open street) weekend in Downtown LA and we got to ride bicycles from Glendale to MacArthur Park with an awesome group of people.

Since we had spent the majority of the weekend talking about bike advocacy, we cut our CicLAvia experience short and caught the early train back to Glendale.

The nice thing about catching Metrolink is that it is a short 10-12 minute train ride back to Glendale and then a 10-12 minute bike ride back to our house.

Metrolink monthly pass holders (like us) can ride the train system (bus and light rail, too) for free on weekends.  Non-monthly pass holders have access to the entire system by purchasing a $10 weekend pass.  There is now an app that you can use to purchase your Metrolink pass virtually, in case your trip starts with a bus instead of starting at the Metrolink station (like we did). Screenshots from the Metrolink app are shown side-by-side below.

Remember, your bus pass will not get you on the light rail.  Nor will your light rail pass get you onto the Metrolink train.  But a Metrolink ticket will get you on the bus and light rail.

Last, but not least, if you're going for a short trip, your one-way ticket on Metrolink will be cheaper than a Day Pass.  But if you're traveling a long way (Lancaster to LA Union Station, which costs $11.50 one way) then the Day Pass will be cheaper even if you're not returning on that day to your original destination.  The app makes it easier to comparison shop on your own schedule, without having to mess around with the ticket vending machine (TVM) at the actual train depot.

There is an agreement between Amtrak and the Glendale Beeline and several other bus providers for free transfers, but LA Metro buses only offer a discount to Amtrak passengers, according to Fox 5 News San Diego. If you do take Amtrak, you must call and make a bike reservation (800-USA-RAIL).  Roll-on service is possible on the Pacific Surfliner AND the Coast Starlight.  I guess Amtrak also has a mobile app, but I don't have experience with it yet.

Also, I learned that a Metro TAP card is how you use Metro Bike Share, but I haven't tried it myself yet. Have you?