Patsaouras Transit Plaza

Patsaouras Transit Plaza is a bus station located on the east side of Union Station in Downtown Los Angeles and near the El Monte Busway. The Transit Plaza was originally named the Gateway Transit Plaza, but was named after Nick Patsaouras, former RTD board member who was an advocate for public transportation.

Patsaouras Transit Plaza
The transit plaza and Union Station east portal
Location801 N. Vignes Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012
United States
Coordinates34°03′19″N 118°13′59″W
Owned byLos Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority
PlatformsMulti-bay island platform
Bus stands9
ConnectionsUnion Station (trains)
Construction
Platform levels2
Parking3,000 park & ride spaces ($6 a day)
Bicycle facilities24 bike rack spaces
20 locker spaces
Disabled accessYes
Location

The MTA Building is located at the northern end of the plaza.

Services

Metro and municipal buses

Several other services' bus stops are located near the Patsaouras Transit Plaza:

Vignes Street entrance to transit plaza

LAX FlyAway
FlyAway coach at the Patsaouras Transit Plaza.

LAX FlyAway service is offered between Union Station and Los Angeles International Airport. FlyAway buses run every 30 minutes between 5 am and 1 am and on the hour between 1 am and 5 am. Tickets are sold from a ticket kiosk at the southwest corner of the island platform.

Long-distance motorcoach

Megabus provides several routes from the Patsaouras Transit Plaza:

  • M10 to Las Vegas
  • M11 to San Francisco via Oakland
  • M12 to San Francisco via San Jose

BoltBus also operates long-distance motorcoach routes from Union Station. They do not use the plaza itself, but stop at a curb on the west side of the station.[1][2]

Future expansion
New transitway station under construction in July 2017

A new transitway station for the Metro Silver Line and other transit buses operating on the El Monte Busway is being built to the south of the Patsaouras Transit Plaza in the median of the El Monte Busway. The project has been planned for years but has been beset by delays and an increasing budget.

When completed, the station will allow buses traveling in both directions on the busway to serve Union Station with a minimum of delay for passengers for other destinations.[3][4] When the project is completed, a bridge will allow passengers to walk directly from the Patsaouras Transit Plaza to the busway station, thereby eliminating a long, convoluted walk across the Union Station property to the current stop located on the El Monte Busway at Alameda.

Construction on the station started in early 2017. Work on the station was halted on April 24, 2018, when archaeological and Native American artifacts were discovered at the site. Archaeological investigation field work was completed nearly a year later on April 12, 2019. Construction is now expected to resume in May 2019, with construction scheduled to be completed in the summer of 2020.

The project is now estimated to cost $51 million, well more than double the original estimate. The project is funded by tolls collected as a part of the Metro ExpressLanes project and a grant from the U.S. government.[5][6]

References
  1. BoltBus (15 October 2013). "BoltBus To Launch Service In California On Oct. 31" (Press release). Dallas, Texas: PR Newswire. Retrieved 15 October 2013.
  2. BoltBus (10 December 2013). "BoltBus Expands From Los Angeles; Adds Las Vegas, San Francisco Service" (Press release). Dallas, Texas: PR Newswire. Retrieved 12 December 2013.
  3. "Patsaouras Plaza/El Monte Busway Station". EE&K Architects. Perkins Eastman.
  4. "Patsaouras Plaza Connector (Conceptual Plan)". Flickr. May 12, 2009.
  5. McCarty Carino, Meghan (January 2, 2017). "Metro starts work on pedestrian bridge at LA's Union Station". KPCC. Retrieved May 16, 2019.
  6. Clarke, Richard (May 2019). "Program Management Major Project Status Report" (PDF). Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Retrieved May 16, 2019.
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