LACMTA

Metro

Four Metro-operated modes of service.
Overview
Locale	Los Angeles County, California
Transit type	Rapid transit (subway) Light rail Bus Bus rapid transit
Number of lines	Heavy rail: 2 Light rail: 4 Bus rapid transit: 2 Bus: 170
Number of stations	Rail: 93 Bus rapid transit: 29
Daily ridership	1,286,723 (December 2015; avg. weekday boardings)
Chief executive	Phillip Washington
Website	www.metro.net
Operation
Began operation	April 1, 1993
Technical
System length	Rail: 105 miles (169 km) Bus: 1,433 miles (2,306 km)

The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (branded as Metro; formerly branded as MTA or LACMTA) is the public transportation operating agency for the County of Los Angeles formed in 1993 out of a merger of the Southern California Rapid Transit District and the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission. It is chartered under state law as a regional transportation planning agency (RTPA).

Metro directly operates bus, light rail, heavy rail, and bus rapid transit services. It provides funding and directs planning for commuter rail and freeway/expressway projects within Los Angeles County.

The agency develops and oversees transportation plans, policies, funding programs, and both short-term and long-range solutions that address the county's increasing mobility, accessibility and environmental needs. The agency is also the primary transit provider for the City of Los Angeles providing the bulk of such services while the City of Los Angeles Department of Transportation (LADOT) operates a much smaller system of its own Commuter Express bus service to outlying suburbs in the city of Los Angeles and the popular DASH (Downtown Area Short Hop) mini-bus service in downtown and other neighborhoods in the city of Los Angeles. Metro has its headquarters in a high-rise building adjacent to Union Station in downtown Los Angeles.

The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority operates the third-largest public transportation system in the United States by ridership with a 1,433 mi² (3,711 km²) operating area and 2,000 peak hour buses on the street any given business day. Metro also designed, built and now operates 105 miles (169 km) of urban rail service. The authority has 9,892 employees, making it one of the region's largest employers.

The authority also partially funds sixteen municipal bus operators and a wide array of transportation projects including bikeways and pedestrian facilities, local roads and highway improvements, goods movement, Metrolink regional commuter rail, Freeway Service Patrol and freeway call boxes within the greater metropolitan Los Angeles region.