La Verne's A Line Stop Was Built for a Bridge That Isn't There Yet

Up to seven trains an hour now run each direction past the University of La Verne parking structure and into the La Verne/Fairplex station. Murals cover the building on the north side of the tracks. In April, the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin's David Allen called it "so far the least used of the four" stations that opened in September 2025.

The station's name explains the low numbers. Half of it is "Fairplex," and Fairplex sits across Arrow Highway. The pedestrian bridge that would link the two has funding and has gone out to bid, but construction hasn't started. The extension past Pomona that would put La Verne in the middle of the line is years off. Until both arrive, the station mostly serves the Old Town and University of La Verne blocks on its own side of the highway, and this fall's calendar shows it.

The first winter's numbers, set against the plan

Passenger service at Glendora, San Dimas, La Verne/Fairplex and Pomona North began September 19, 2025. Metro gave the Daily Bulletin five months of boardings, October 2025 through February 2026. Across all four stations, the daily average rose from 2,817 in October to 3,038 in February. The station-by-station split is uneven. The planning targets in the right column are for 2035, after about ten years of service.

La Verne had the second-highest projection of the four and the lowest February count. By the Daily Bulletin's math, it would need about eight times its February ridership to reach the 2035 figure. Glendora and San Dimas would need about four times theirs, and Pomona about three. That gap suggests planners saw this stop as a gateway to the fairgrounds.

The line as a whole is gaining riders. At the September anniversary, the Foothill Gold Line Construction Authority reported A Line ridership up more than 14% since the four stations opened, compared with 12% growth for Metro rail systemwide over the same period. The Authority celebrated with "Rock the Rails II" at Pomona North on September 20, with local bands and vendors from the 909 Open Market. That 14% covers the whole line, though, and no newer count for the La Verne station has been published.

The bridge the station was drawn around

The missing piece is the La Verne Regional Multimodal Bridge. As Streetsblog LA described the concept in December 2024, it would run about 1,500 feet, 12 feet wide and 32 feet high, carrying pedestrians and cyclists from the station over Arrow Highway and the Metrolink tracks. It would land on the Fairplex property next to a site set aside for future transit-oriented development.

Here is where it stands in 2026:

1. August 3. The La Verne City Council approved a funding amendment 4-0 for what La Verne Daily's meeting recap called a $28 million project. The recap ran under the line "the price just went up, and nobody knows by how much yet." The San Gabriel Valley Council of Governments has led design and construction since a 2024 agreement. The city had already committed $1.8 million through its Enhanced Infrastructure Financing District.
2. August 20. Bids were due. The council kept the right to revisit the project if bids came in well over budget. The PlanetBids solicitation, "La Verne Pedestrian Bridge 26-01," is now marked closed, with no start date or project duration posted.
3. September and October. No bridge item appeared at the council's September 21 or October 5 meetings or on the October 19 agenda.

So the project's next public step is a bid result and a contract award. Neither has come before the council yet.

The other half of the plan is east of Pomona

The second reason the La Verne platform is quiet is that the line ends one stop later. Pomona North is the end of the line, and it accounted for about 60% of February boardings across the four new stations.

The next segment is coming slowly. The Claremont Courier reported in June that the Construction Authority gave SSH Joint Venture a $6.3 million construction-manager contract on May 27 for the 2.3-mile Pomona-to-Claremont segment, with construction projected to wrap up in late 2031. In April, the Daily Bulletin put a possible Claremont station opening in 2032. According to the Authority's September update, the segment is in final design. The 60% design review is set for early January 2027, and major construction is expected to start in late 2027 and take about four years.

Montclair's status is less settled. The same Courier article said San Bernardino County's transportation authority had voted 15-11 to withhold funding for the Claremont-to-Montclair stretch and study other transit options instead. Even when trains reach Claremont, La Verne will be three stops from the end of the line, not a sure midpoint between two counties.

What the station already reaches

On its own side of Arrow Highway, the station works now. Metro describes it as across Arrow Highway from Fairplex and next to the University of La Verne and Old Town La Verne. Foothill Transit Lines 197, 291 and 492 also stop there.

• Parking. Metro's parking inventory lists 262 paid spaces at $3 a day or $59 a month. The Construction Authority's station page describes a 300-space facility, and the two sources don't explain the difference.
• Campus. When the station opened, the Campus Times noted it was one block from campus. The paper also reported that Metro's U-Pass and GoPass programs offer discounted or free rides to eligible students at participating schools.
• The fair workaround. For the May 7-31 LA County Fair, Foothill Transit ran its new Line 67 from the station to the fair's Red Gate at McKinley and White avenues. Buses came every 30 minutes from 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 p.m., Thursday through Sunday and on Memorial Day. That bus does the job the bridge is meant to do, but only during fair season.

Late October through December, sorted by side of the highway

Read this season's events with the bridge in mind. Old Town and campus events are on the station's side of Arrow Highway. Fairplex events are across it, and during non-fair months there is no shuttle like Line 67. Fairplex posted its calendar over the summer, so check dates with the venue before you go.

The two Old Town Saturdays are the clearest station-side outings. Trick-or-treat on October 31 and the Route 66 Centennial Car Show on November 21 are both at Mainiero Square, on the Old Town blocks Metro lists as next to the platform. Campus is the other easy trip. The Leopards men's and women's schedules have home games at The Tents through the fall. The men's schedule includes games on November 13, 21, 22 and 24 and an afternoon game against MIT on December 31. The women's includes games on November 7 and 17 and December 13.

Gate 17 hosts three Fairplex dates this season: the RailGiants Train Museum weekends in November and December and the early-morning Pomona Swap Meet on December 6. All of them are on the far side of Arrow Highway, which the bridge is meant to cross.

Other city events are on the calendar but not tied to the station. The La Verne Historical Society's Vintage Sale & Home Tour on November 14 still lists its location as TBD. Brunch with Santa and Friends is December 5 at the La Verne Community Center, 3680 D Street. Winter Wonderland is December 12 at Heritage Park, 5001 Via de Mansion. Wreaths Across America and a cemetery tour are December 19 at La Verne Cemetery. Old Town's merchant site still shows last December's Holiday Stroll, so check it for 2026 dates.

We follow the Fairplex bridge's bid results and Metro's station counts because they will shape what the Arrow Highway corridor looks like over the next few years. If you'd like to talk through what the bridge or the Claremont extension could mean for your part of La Verne, get in touch with Michael and Lisa Mucino at Camden McKay Realty to schedule a free neighborhood consultation, or sign up for our local market updates.