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Originally Posted by Crawford
Eh, it was mostly built. I doubt adding a few stations will be a gamechanger for overall transit numbers. Downtown and Hollywood have had subway service for a generation now. Locals in places like Bev Hills and Century City are far less likely to take transit than locals in Koreatown or MacArthur Park.
When the new segment opens, I doubt the relative ridership ratio between BART and LA MTA changes much.
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I'm guessing the most substantial ridership gains will not happen in the areas you mentioned, but rather further west, at Westwood/UCLA and Westwood/VA Hospital. I think Wilshire/La Cienega should see a decent amount of ridership as well due to being near Cedars Sinai, although it's still a good 15-20 min walk from the station location. According to LA Metro, the Westside is the region’s second-largest job center.
At these three locations you have major healthcare employment hubs (VA West LA, UCLA, and Cedars Sinai), where workers don't work remotely. I think a decent amount of patients will use them as well (except maybe the Cedars Sinai one). Then of course you've got the UCLA campus and Westwood area where I could see a lot of students and workers using the service. The only downside again, is that campus is a good 15-20 min walk from the station. There will be a future station actually at UCLA added as part of the Sepulveda Transit Corridor, where people would be able to transfer from the Westwood/UCLA station. But who knows when that is coming.