The station has three levels: the upper level provides access to the C Line, the middle level has the connections to local bus services and the 253 space park and ride lot, and the lower level provides access to the J Line and other express buses operating on the Harbor Transitway. It is located near the Athens district of Los Angeles.[5]
Hours and frequency
C Line service hours are approximately from 4:00 a.m. until 12:30 a.m. daily. Trains operate every 10 minutes throughout the day. Night and early morning weekend service is every 20 minutes.[6]
J Line buses run 24 hours a day between El Monte Station, Downtown Los Angeles, and the Harbor Gateway Transit Center, as route 910. Some trips continue to San Pedro between 6 a.m. and 8 p.m. and are signed as Route 950. On weekdays, buses operate every four to eight minutes during peak hours. They operate every 10 minutes in the midday, 20 minutes during evenings, 40 minutes during nights, and every hour overnight. On weekends, buses arrive every 15 minutes most of the day. They operate every 20 minutes during evenings, 40 minutes during nights, and every hour overnight.[7]
Other Harbor Transitway services
These routes stop at the same boarding platforms of the Metro J Line at the freeway level:[8]
Due to the upper platform's location within a freeway medium and in the interchange of two of Los Angeles' busiest freeways, it has received criticism for subjecting C-train riders to significant amounts of highway traffic noise and has been cited as a notable example of hostile transit infrastructure.[9]
History
The site is approximately the former Forest (later South Los Angeles) station on the San Pedro via Gardena Line of the Pacific Electric. It was also the southern terminus of the Los Angeles Railway7 Line, allowing interchanges between the two systems. Pacific Electric service ended in 1940, while the 7 Line ran until 1955.
Incident
Bollards were installed at Harbor Freeway station and all similar stations after the crash.
On February 22, 2012, a drunk driver on the Harbor Freeway mistakenly entered the bus-only station area of the Harbor Freeway station. The driver, 51-year-old Stephen L. Lubin of Sun Valley, was traveling 80 miles per hour (130 km/h) in his 2009 Honda Fit (15 mph (24 km/h) over the freeway's posted speed limit) as he entered the station and encountered a bus stopped at the platform. Lubin swerved to avoid hitting the bus and drove onto the station platform where he hit seven people, critically injuring six, before slamming into a pole on the platform.[10]
After the crash, Metro's CEO Art Leahy asked Metro's safety committee staff to review the layout of busway stations and safety signage on the roadways leading into the station areas.[11] As a result of that investigation, Metro added concrete-filled metal bollards to all stations on the Harbor Transitway and the El Monte Busway to prevent vehicles from entering the platform and additional markings were added on roadways leading into stations.[12]
^"C Line Timetable – Connections section"(PDF). Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority. February 20, 2022. p. 2. Archived(PDF) from the original on March 18, 2022. Retrieved May 15, 2022.
