On May 13^th, twelve students from USC, UCLA, CSULB, and CSUN participated in an exciting opportunity to ride the Expo Line to Santa Monica, one week before the Metro line opened to the public. WTS-LA, part of an international organization dedicated to the advancement of women in transportation, organized the trip, which brought together students, transportation professionals, and transit enthusiasts, to celebrate the first passenger train to Santa Monica since 1953. 

The group met at the Culver City station and boarded the train around 11:30am. When the train started moving, attendees pulled out their phones to take pictures and videos of the ride, thrilled to be a part of history. The train operator left the cab door open so that everyone would be able to see the view of the route from the front of the train. For half of the journey, the train traveled on viaducts above street level, providing a scenic aerial view of the Westside.

About twenty minutes later, the train arrived in Santa Monica and the group went to Sonoma Wine Garden for lunch and networking.  Los Angeles County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl gave remarks about the new Metro line and transit in Los Angeles, which encouraged informal discussions among the attendees about the future of transit. After lunch, the group walked back to the Santa Monica station and boarded the train to Culver City.

In addition to serving as a preview of the new Expo Line, this event brought together individuals from various transportation-related fields and facilitated idea sharing about transportation in Los Angeles.  Ian Livesay, a Supply Chain Management student at CSULB, remarked, "It was great to see individuals from various organizations come together, ride the line, and share the excitement. I feel that the transportation industry is a close-knit team of several diverse members."

Rawan Aj, an Urban Planning and Studies graduate student at CSUN, enjoyed Supervisor Sheila Kuehl’s speech because of “her emphasis on the importance of women in transportation because they do bring on a different perspective on politics, planning and transportation. For women to be considered in plans and transportation goals, they need to be part of the decision making as well. It was very inspiring!”

Katherine Buck

Katherine Buck is a Master of Planning student at USC and is also pursuing a Certificate in Real Estate Development. She is interested in redevelopment and transit-oriented development, and will graduate in May 2017.