| LACMTA | Metrolink | LADOT Bus |
| Waterfront Red Car | ||
The base fare on all Metro rail lines is $1.25. You can purchase a proof-of-purchase ticket from a vending machine at any station. A new ticket is required for each boarding.
The TAP card is Metro's reusable fare instrument. The TAP card must be tapped at a faregate in order to be considered valid. Fare inspectors check not only for posession of a valid fare instrument, but they also have portable card readers that they can use to make sure you tapped before boarding the vehicle. If you fail to tap the card, even when transferring from one Metro rail line to another, you can be cited for not paying the fare and fined $250.
A Day Pass is available for $5.00. These too can be purchased at any station vending machine. The Day Pass is advantageous if you will be boarding more then four Metro vehicles in a day.
Metro also sells a Weekly Pass for $17.00. This would pay for itself after 13 boardings within a week. If you will be participating for the entire four days we will spend in Los Angeles, we will definitely fit that criteria. Remember that you may also need to use Metro to get to and from your hotel, so that will add to the number of trips you take.
Senior (62 and over), disabled, and student discounts are available; however one must obtain a specific TAP pass for these groups. These are available by application, so they will not be worthwhile for the purposes of our group.
None of the above fare instruments will be accepted as payment on any other carrier. However, your Metrolink one way, round trip, or ten trip ticket is good on Metro after you return to Los Angeles Union Station. You can use it on the entire Gold, Purple, and Red Lines from Union Station, as well as the Blue Line (transfer at Metro Center) all the way to Long Beach. If you detrain from the Orange County or 91 Lines at Norwalk/Santa Fe Springs, your ticket is good on the Norwalk Transit #4 bus (which will take you to the Metro Green Line), as well as the entire Metro Green Line itself.
LA DOT's #142 bus will take us between the Metro Blue Line Transit Mall station in Long Beach and Ports O' Call in San Pedro, in both directions. The one way base fare for this trip, entirely in one zone, is 90 cents. Bring exact change, as the ability to make change for a dollar bill is unknown.
| Sunday | |
|---|---|
| Trip | Fare |
| LB Transit Mall-Ports O' Call | $0.90 |
| Ports O' Call-LB Transit Mall | $0.90 |
The Waterfront Red Car Line charges a flat one dollar fare, good all day. We can board and detrain any number of times for the same fare.
| Sunday | |
|---|---|
| Trip | Fare |
| Ports O' Call-Marina | $1.00 |
| Marina-Cruise Center | |
| Cruise Center-Ports O' Call | |
Metrolink fares are based on the number of zones through which a passenger travels.
On our fest, we will have three round trips and three one-way trips on Metrolink. On Friday, we will be taking a round trip to Moorpark on the Ventura County Line. On Saturday, there will be round trips on the San Bernardino Line to San Bernardino, and the Antelope Valley Line to Lancaster. Then on Monday, we will ride the Riverside Line from Los Angeles to Riverside, the Inland Empire-Orange County Line from Riverside to Irvine, and the Orange County Line from Irvine to Los Angeles.
Metrolink operates on a proof-of-payment system. Passengers may be asked by a conductor or fare inspector to show a ticket or other proof of payment. Tickets are not sold on trains.
One way tickets must be purchased on the day of travel, and travel must begin within three hours of sale. Round trip tickets offer a $1 savings off the cost of two one way tickets. The first trip must begin within three hours of sale, and the return trip must be completed the same day. One way and round trip tickets do not have to be validated, as they carry imprinted time and date information.
Ten-trip tickets give a further discount off what ten weekday one-way tickets would cost. They can be used for multiple passengers, but the tickets need to be validated once for each passenger. On weekends, the discounted weekend fare is less than the per-trip fare on a ten-trip ticket, so a weekend round trip ticket is recommended instead.
Ticket vending machines are located at every Metrolink station. They will accept cash, debit cards, or credit cards. They will make change for cash transactions. Validators for the 10-trip tickets are located next to the TVM's. There are also two ticket windows at Union Station in Los Angeles, but they are only open on weekdays.
Your Metrolink one way, round trip, or ten trip ticket is good on Metro after you return to Los Angeles Union Station. You can use it on the entire Gold, Purple, and Red Lines from Union Station, as well as the Blue Line (transfer at Metro Center) all the way to Long Beach. If you detrain from the Orange County or 91 Lines at Norwalk, your ticket is good on the Norwalk Transit #4 bus (which will take you to the Metro Green Line), as well as the entire Metro Green Line itself.
Here are the tickets we expect to have to buy:
| Friday, Saturday, & Monday | ||||||||||
| Trip | Fare | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weekday One Way | Weekday One Way Reduced * | Weekday Round Trip | Weekday Round Trip Reduced * | Weekend One Way | Weekend One Way Reduced * | Weekend Round Trip | Weekend Round Trip Reduced * | Ten Trip | Ten Trip Reduced * | |
| Los Angeles-Moorpark | $9.25 | $4.75 | $17.50 | $8.75 | -- | -- | -- | -- | $80.75 | $40.50 |
| Moorpark-Los Angeles | $9.25 | $4.75 | -- | -- | ||||||
| Los Angeles-San Bernardino | -- | -- | -- | -- | $8.00 | $5.50 | $15.00 | $10.00 | $94.75 | $47.50 |
| San Bernardino-Los Angeles | -- | -- | $8.00 | $5.50 | ||||||
| Los Angeles-Lancaster | -- | -- | -- | -- | $8.50 | $5.75 | $16.25 | $10.75 | $101.00 | $50.50 |
| Lancaster-Los Angeles | -- | -- | $8.50 | $5.75 | ||||||
| Los Angeles-Riverside | $10.50 | $5.25 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | $94.25 | $47.25 |
| Riverside-Irvine | $9.00 | $4.50 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | $77.25 | $38.75 |
| Irvine-Los Angeles | $9.00 | $4.50 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | $78.25 | $39.25 |
| TOTALS | $47.00 | $23.75 | $17.50 | $8.75 | $33.00 | $22.50 | $31.25 | $20.75 | -- | -- |
NEW: Weekend "Friends & Family 4-pack" is being offered. Thus for the 2 Saturday round trips, 4 people can team up to spend $29 for what is essentially a Day Pass for those 4 people, at $7.25 per person! That means for the weekend round trip fare listed above at $31.25, you would save $24. See here for details. Note that the 4-pack is NOT good for Metro fare after riding Metrolink, so you still should obtain a Metro DayPass for the day.
As always, bring enough money to cover your meals.