What’s the problem with continuing to name LA Metro’s train lines and rapid busways after colors?

They’ve run out.

With eight more transit lines set to be operational in less than 10 years, the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, faced with using subtle color shades such as olive, pink and lavender, decided to scrap the color-naming convention in favor of letters.

After concluding shades would be difficult to decipher on station signs, the board voted last week to spend nearly $9 million to rename all their lines using letters and eventually phasing out colors, except on map grids.

“There are only so many primary colors. Then you get into shades,” said Pauletta Tonilas, LA Metro spokesperson. “Shades of color are more difficult for people to decipher.”

Both colors and letters would be used during a transition period that starts in about nine months.

— The revamped Blue Line to Long Beach will become the A Line.

— The Red Line subway will become the B Line.

— Parts of the Green Line will become the C Line.

— The Purple Line will become the D Line.

— The Orange Line bus rapid transit in the San Fernando Valley will be the F Line.

— The Silver Line rapid busway from L.A. to the South Bay will become the G Line.

The Gold Line light-rail from Azusa to L.A. will be renamed once the downtown Regional Connector is completed, the end of 2021 or early 2022, said Tonilas.

When that happens, riders from Azusa can stay on the train through downtown Los Angeles stations and go all the way to Long Beach on a single-seat ride without changing trains at Union Station, which is now the case.

That portion of the Gold Line will be renamed the A Line and colored blue on the map.

Gold Line passengers from East Los Angeles will get a one-seat ride to the Little Tokyo Station and continue on what is now the Expo Line (turquoise) to South Los Angeles, USC, LA Live and the end of the line in Santa Monica. That line will become the E Line, gold on the map.

Naming the Crenshaw/LAX Line set to open in mid-2020 is more complicated, she said.

A portion from Norwalk to Crenshaw will most likely be the J Line and possibly olive, while the former Green Line that will run from Willowbrook/Rosa Parks Station west to Redondo Beach will be the C Line and green on the map, Tonilas explained.

These line-addition names are in flux because part of the realignment is a one-year pilot study.

Additions

Currently, LA Metro operates eight lines: six rail and two bus rapid transit, all named for colors. By 2028, four rail and four dedicated bus lines will be added, for a total of 16, she said.

Some of the planned lines and their assigned letters are as follows: Arroyo Verdugo/ L Line; North San Fernando Valley/ N Line; Sepulveda Pass/ Q Line; Vermont/ R Line and the West Santa Ana (from downtown Los Angeles to Artesia)/ S Line.

“We did a good job simplifying it,” Tonilas said. “I think people will get used to it.”

Indeed, many passengers using the Gold Line in Pasadena on Wednesday agreed with Tonilas, who said after sifting through survey and focus group data, Metro planning, operational, programing and communications departments went with letters over numbers.

“Anything that the Metro planners do to enhance public transportation by train is a good thing. We can all figure it out. It is not rocket science,” said Denise Kulawik, who seemed to see the big picture and take the name changes in stride.

Likewise, Michael Johnson, 55, who works in Pasadena, says he was pleased to learn that portion of the Gold Line will continue to Long Beach by joining with the Blue (A Line) because he has relatives there.

“Maybe someone could write another song like ‘I’ll take the A Train,’” he said, adding: “It will take a little getting used to.”

No numbers

Numbers were rejected for two reasons.

First, the train platforms are numbered and those could be confused with a train or bus line. And second, Angelenos refer to freeways by their numbers. Someone saying they would take “the 5” or “the 10” could be mixing up the interstates with train lines, she said.

The letter H was rejected because it usually stands for hospital. M was ruled out because it is used in the logo for Metro, Tonilas said. Some board members did not want to name the Orange Line the F Line, because F can be associated with the F-word.

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LA Metro’s naming system will line up with those in major cities, such as New York, Chicago and Denver, Tonilas said. These also use colors on a grid map so people can follow a colored line as a visual tool.

“This is evidence we are becoming an increasingly world class transportation system, especially with the Olympics coming in 2028,” said LA Metro spokesman Dave Sotero.

London uses destinations and colors, not letters. Glendora resident and Anglophile Kevin Gore, 44, doesn’t like the switch to letters. “I like colors. It is easier for people to remember,” he said while getting off the Gold Line train en route to work in Pasadena.