When Metro opened the first stretch of its long-awaited D Line Subway Extension on May 8, the future of Los Angeles transit felt tangible.

There were speeches, crowds, cameras and optimism that comes with being first through the fare gates of the nearly $10 billion-project.

Riders told me they loved the subway and saw the new stops as proof that the subway in Los Angeles was finally becoming more practical. Safety concerns were waved away. What mattered, they said, was utility: A straight shot to LA County Museum of Art, the Petersen Museum and the Miracle Mile, with the promise of a subway spine deeper into the Westside on the line by 2027.

A month later, the mood felt very different.

On a June 11 ride through the new section at the prime commuting time around 8 a.m., platforms were quiet and trains sparsely populated.

In photos taken by The California Post in the lead-up to the influx of FIFA World Cup fans and tourists, Metro staffers were visible, and signs of homelessness remained, even as conditions appear improved from the COVID pandemic-era low point.

That does not mean the extension is a failure. It may mean Los Angeles is still learning what it has.

“I think most Angelenos ignore Metro,” said Juan Matute, deputy director of the UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies. “People are still figuring out what it means to them — and so we’re very much in this transitional period in LA of what transit means to the city.”

Metro officials argue that ridership takes time to build in a city where many residents have never considered the subway part of daily life.

“The more information we put out there, how useful the line is, how clean it is, how safe it is, more people start riding it,” one Metro official said.

Carter Rubin, director of state transportation advocacy at NRDC, sees opportunity.

“Even though over a million trips are taken on LA Metro every day, the majority of Angelenos are not riding transit,” Rubin said. That leaves “never riders” who could become “sometimes riders.”

For now, Metro — and the city — is betting on patience. LA is not a subway city yet. But a month after the celebration, the D Line is a reminder that building the tracks is the easy part. Filling the trains takes longer.

---

Download The California Post App, follow us on social, and subscribe to our newsletters