Oh, the places you’ll tap!
TAP cards are the best way to navigate the Los Angeles County Transit systems.
The best way to navigate the transit systems around us here in Pasadena is by utilizing TAP cards, either by loading a physical card or on your phone, to easily pay for any of the many transit services throughout LA County. If you’ve never used one before, they can be purchased and refilled at a vending machine at any of the Pasadena A-Line Light Rail stations throughout the city, or through Apple Pay or the TAP app. Once you have your card or app, you either tap before any train ride or as you enter your bus!
Using the TAP card is required for any Metro Rail service and is very advantageous for buses as well. TAP cards ensure you receive free transfers, that you ride for free after reach the fare cap of $5 a day on LA Metro services, and you get on your buses faster! There are also a wide variety of discount programs available for free/reduced K - 12 student passes, senior discounts, the Low Income Fare Is Easy (LIFE) Program for 20 free rides a month, and the University student pass. I personally got signed up for the U-pass for the last year of my program at CSULA for around $90 a semester for unlimited transit use. It freed me from buying a parking pass, spending money on gas, and paying for all the other transit trips I took. Even without any of the discount programs Pasadena Transit buses are 75 cents and LA Metro bus and train trips are $1.75, which are noticeably cheaper than other major US cities, making the switch from expensive gas and parking prices all the more attractive.
I personally recommend downloading the Transit app (with the green logo) to see what kinds of transit trips are easily available nearby. The app also offers pretty good live timing of when your buses or trains will come. If you are new to transit use I highly recommend starting off with any of the Pasadena Transit buses, which in my experience have very clean buses, friendly drivers, decent coverage, and a very safe feel. My wife and I love taking the 40 bus from our place near Jefferson Park down to Old Town for a meal or stroll. It’s a far less stressful trip when you don’t have to find parking, we’re encouraged to walk more and relax! It can end a bit early on the weekends however so if it's a later dinner we sometimes have to take the A-line back home. If you would also like to see more frequent buses, tell Pasadena Transit here: https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/adf1728abed74f76b0d3d318b4fd1a01
For a longer trip utilizing Metro Rail, I suggest taking the A-Line from any of our Pasadena stations down to some of the brand-new stations in DTLA: Little Tokyo/Arts District, Historic Broadway, or Grand Avenue Arts. All three have stunning art in the station and have access to fun cultural activities and food like Grand Central Market, Los Angeles Central Library, and the historic Angels Flight funicular railway, where you can also use your tap card for a ride!
It's an exciting time for transit expansion in the Los Angeles area. By 2025, we will have three new subway stations in Mid-city Los Angeles, the A-Line extension to Pomona, and the K and C lines with a brand new connection to LAX. By 2027, the NoHo to Pasadena Bus Rapid Transit line will open, expanding our rapid transit options and adding a lot more buses between Old Town and PCC within our city. No city in North America is building more new transit than the Los Angeles region, but even with what we have today, we can easily tap our way to a myriad of interesting places within our city and region.
