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Friday, Mar 29, 2024
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Metrolink Cuts Antelope Valley Fares

Lower fares are coming to commuters using the Antelope Valley Metrolink line this summer through a pilot program to help improve ridership. There will be a 25 percent reduction for all ticket types for travel between Los Angeles and Lancaster starting on July 1. For example, a regular one-way fare would decrease from $15 to $11.25 between Union Station and Lancaster and decrease from $12.50 to $9.40 from downtown Burbank to Palmdale. The pilot program will last six months and will include a new $2 “station-to-station” off-peak fare to encourage local trips using Metrolink as an additional option complementing local bus service. Traveling between Lancaster and Palmdale, for instance, would cost $2, while traveling the two stations from Via Princessa to Newhall in Santa Clarita would cost $4. Weekend day passes will remain at their current $10 price. “This fare pilot program is part of a larger effort by Metrolink to take a more comprehensive look at our current fare structure and ultimately identify potential fare changes which will benefit our passengers and improve ridership,” said Metrolink Chief Executive Art Leahy. Metrolink was formed in 1991 by a joint powers agreement of transit agencies from Los Angeles, Ventura, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties. Ridership grew steadily until it hit 12.3 million passengers in 2008. It has been uneven since then and in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2014 it was 585,000 off its peak. The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, or Metro, voted Thursday to provide up to $2.5 million to cover costs to market the fare pilot program, as well as ticket machine and web site programming.

Mark Madler
Mark Madler
Mark R. Madler covers aviation & aerospace, manufacturing, technology, automotive & transportation, media & entertainment and the Antelope Valley. He joined the company in February 2006. Madler previously worked as a reporter for the Burbank Leader. Before that, he was a reporter for the City News Bureau of Chicago and several daily newspapers in the suburban Chicago area. He has a bachelor’s of science degree in journalism from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

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