Tram to shuttle students from USC to L.A. Live

Shuttle service from USC to L.A. Live will be reinstated starting Jan. 17.

The shuttle will depart from the Galen Center from 6:30 p.m. to 2:00 a.m. every half hour on Fridays and Saturdays. The departure times from L.A. Live have not been scheduled yet.

Andrew Menard, USG director of University Affairs, oversaw the shuttle’s implementation. The idea of the L.A. Live tram was based on experiences during his freshman year.

“I used to go to L.A. Live a lot with my girlfriend,” Menard said. “Movies, great food, hockey games — L.A. Live is the center of everything.”

Michelle Garcia, associate director of Transit at USC Transportation, noted that USC used to run a similar service, but stopped in 2012 due to a decline in student participation and the implementation of the Expo line.

Garcia said, however, that the Expo line didn’t prove to be a solution.

“The reality is that even after Expo opened, students weren’t taking it to L.A. Live,” Garcia said. “So we went back to AEG and asked if they would be interested in starting it again.”

Garcia said AEG is sponsoring half the shuttle and USC Transportation is sponsoring the other half.

The USC Transportation office has discussed offering promotions exclusively to USC students who use the L.A. Live tram with AEG.

“We have spoken with AEG about the possibility of monitoring passenger counts as weeks go by and other shuttle-specific promotions, like something you get when you get on the bus,” Garcia said. “But that’s definitely for the future and not planned in the upcoming first weeks.”

Regal Cinema is offering a special promotion the first day the shuttle runs. All USC students can receive a free popcorn by showing their ID, regardless of whether they used the tram or not.

Additionally, according to the L.A. Live website, students who present their ID to participating establishments will receive up to 20 percent off their bills.

Student reaction seemed positive toward the new shuttle service.

“I think it’s a great idea that they are bringing the tram back. It gives students an opportunity to explore [the] area around the school,” said Layla Memar, a sophomore majoring in business administration. “I would be more comfortable using the tram rather than the metro since the tram is associated with USC and the metro can be a little sketchy late at night.”

Elena Legan, a sophomore majoring in biology, said the shuttle will be a great convenience for those without a car.

“I am really excited about the L.A. Live shuttle. I love going down there, but it’s difficult if you don’t have a car and if you don’t want to take the metro at night,” Legan said. “It provides students an opportunity to do something on the weekends off campus, which is awesome.”

Some students, however, wished the service extended to weekdays as well.

Ricky Xin, a freshman majoring in business, hoped to take advantage of the shuttle on Tuesdays, when the movies at L.A. Live cost $7.

”Yeah definitely, this is a good news,” Xin said. “But it’s better to prolong the time to weekdays. I’m sure more students will benefit from [that extension] since I’m not the only one who usually goes on Tuesday.”

Xin isn’t the only student who was interested in going to L.A. Live for the theater. Movies serve as a popular pull for students’ attendance at L.A. Live.

“I’d be much more likely to go see a move at L.A. Live due to the accessibility of the tram,” Lexi Zoraian, a sophomore majoring in human biology, said. “And because it’s free I would go more often than if I had to pay to take the Metro.”

Menard showed interest in expanding the shuttle to other days.

“This is only a temporary schedule,” she said. “I’d like to make the time into weekdays.”

Garcia expressed confidence in student demand for the shuttle.

“If it comes out that students don’t use the shuttle we would retire it again,” Garcia said. “But since it has stopped running we have consistently gotten questions about the shuttle and requests for it to come back.”

 

Emily Goldberg contributed to this report.