On the first day it opened, the parking structure for the Gold Line’s eastern-most terminus off Citrus Avenue in Azusa reached capacity by 7 a.m. Monday, a sign that commuters moved quickly toward light-rail as an alternative to driving to and from work on the 210 Freeway.

“Everybody east of that station were there to catch the train at the new terminus,” explained Dave Sotero, a spokesman for the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro).

Most trains along the 11.5-mile Gold Line Foothill extension between the APU/Citrus College Station and the Sierra Madre Villa Station in east Pasadena were near capacity or full starting at 5 a.m. Monday, Sotero said.

“Overall, everyone was pleasantly surprised by the number of people taking the Gold Line (foothill) very early in the morning and throughout the morning,” Sotero said. “I saw a train with 25 people at 5:30 in the morning. I was at Arcadia at 5 a.m.”

Ridership figures for March will be released April 15, Sotero said. Until then, station ambassadors anecdotally report frequent usage on Monday and Tuesday. Metro worked quickly to repair the line damaged when a truck crashed on the 210 Freeway and left debris on the tracks early Sunday morning, Sotero said.

Eric Smith arrived at the APU/Citrus College parking structure at 5:45 a.m. and said the garage was half-full. Laurie McRae arrived at 7:15 a.m. and the garage was full, forcing her to park on the street one-half mile away. Smith said many riders were diverting from Claremont and Covina from Metrolink, a commuter rail service, to the Gold Line. The station’s three-story garage has 200 spaces. At 3 p.m., only four spaces were available.

Smith, a Glendora resident, said Metro might consider expanding the parking garage. As for him, he may take the train from the Irwindale Station Tuesday, he said. With 350 spaces, only the first level was filled Monday afternoon, while the second and third levels were nearly empty. Likewise, rooftop levels at Arcadia and Monrovia garages were mostly empty Monday afternoon.

Leonard Grier, a financial engineer, rode the train from APU/Citrus to Pasadena. After getting off an afternoon train, he said he will continue using this station even if it means arriving by 5 a.m. “Yeah, I think it is worth it. Hopefully it will free up some congestion on the 210,” said Grier, who lives in Claremont.

Monday afternoon, the APU/Citrus Station was the place where spouses and relatives picked up train riders who dodged raindrops walking from the platform to the parking garage.

Kevin Volk, 24, rode Uber to the Downtown Azusa Station in the morning because the driver couldn’t locate the station. But he returned to APU/Citrus after 4 p.m. after a day of classes at the American Fitness & Nutrition Academy in Pasadena. He was awaiting a lift from his sister, he said.

“This is way faster than driving,” Volk said. “And it is much faster than the bus. I got back here (from the Filmore Station) in 30 minutes.”

Clinical laboratory scientist Rosario Meade works at Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena. She didn’t ride Monday but was at the APU/Citrus station buying a TAP card and checking out the station. Meade, of Diamond Bar, said she’ll arrive between 5 a.m. and 7 a.m. depending on her shift, to grab a parking spot, starting Tuesday.

She calculated riding the Gold Line Foothill will trim 32 minutes off her commute by car. “It will really cut my evening commute here,” she said, describing the 210 east traffic as the heaviest of the day.

Some said they rode the train to reach popular spots in downtown Los Angeles or Old Pasadena restaurants and shops.

Andrew Bracy, of Glendora, parked on the streets of Rosedale because the lot was full. He rode the train to Union Station, then the Red Line to Langer’s Deli for a pastrami sandwich. “It was nice to sit and relax and not worry about the traffic on the 210,” he said.

Supervisor Mike Antonovich rode the train around 7 a.m. Monday and greeted riders.

“The morale of the staff was very high. The train was full and the people had a good experience,” said the Metro board member.

Antonovich was one of the first politicians to fight for a separate Gold Line authority to build the L.A.-to-Pasadena line in 2003 and the foothill extension. He hopes the line will be built to Claremont and then the Ontario Airport. That extension is currently unfunded.