At last week’s meeting of the Metro Executive Management Committee, Board Members voted to continue the process of renaming Metro’s rail and bus lines. (Full powerpoint, here.) Following an outreach process that reached thousands of people, staff is recommending moving forward with renaming all current and future rail and rapid bus lines with both a color and a letter.

Staff, and two consultant teams, noted that the dual letter/color distinction will allow for consistency and the addition of new rail and rapid bus lines, and will also distinguish the rapid lines from the regular bus system, which has numbered lines.

Under the current plan being studied, lines would be “lettered” chronologically based on when they opened. Staff responded to a comment by Supervisor and Metro Board Chair Shelia Kuehl, who urged no “F” or “Brown” lines, by saying that no decisions were final and the Board would have final say on the colors and letters used.

There are no plans to change the names of any current lines, save the Expo Line. This is good news for current Metro riders who desire less confusion in their lives and for songwriters for Move L.A.

The transition to the new color/letter names could begin as soon as the Blue Line “New Blue Improvements” are completed in 2019. The cost of all the new signage and outreach is $8.9 million.