Very soon, the excuse of "I have to hang up; I'm going into the subway," will no longer be legit. Metro's planning to have cell service up and running in the first subway tunnels "starting in the coming weeks," the agency told KPCC. It sounds like by the end of March, the first wave of service will be available for the ride between Union Station and Seventh St./Metro Center. Cell service means that phone calls and internet use will be possible on the train, which will definitely be both a blessing and a curse.

Metro's been talking about rolling out cell service and Wi-Fi on subways for a couple years now. Previous updates on the tech projected that we'd be getting Wi-Fi first, then cell service, but now it looks like cell service will be the first thing Metro riders get.

Metro's not the only one upgrading the ride. Long-distance commuters who take the LADOT's Commuter Express buses will be able to use Wi-Fi within the year. A limited number of Commuter Expresses currently have free Wi-Fi, but by the end of 2016, the LADOT's expecting all of them to have wireless internet available for riders.

· Cell service coming to the subway, Wi-Fi coming to LADOT buses [KPCC]

· First LA Metro Tunnels Will Get WiFi and Cell Service in 2015 [Curbed LA]