LA-area light rail now reaches from distant suburbs to sea (xpost from CA group)
http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/LA-area-light-rail-now-reaches-from-distant-7806438.php
A light rail line is about to extend across metropolitan Los Angeles to the Pacific for the first time since the 1950s.
Starting Friday with the opening of the 6.6-mile final leg of the Expo Line, riders can now ride Metro rail from the far-inland suburb of Azusa some 40 miles to the sands of Santa Monica.
The milestone fulfills a decades-long dream of public officials and transit fans, and its symbolic value is undeniable. Its true test, however, will be whether it can shake up the commuting status quo in sprawling and automotive LA....
"It's a driver's city," Marcus said as he sat riding a Metro Gold Line train into downtown's Union Station on Tuesday. "I feel like it will always be that until they get the public transit system to where it's more extensive, which is going to take some years."
