Rate ‘Sale’ Planned on Saturday Metrolink

Metrolink is running special holiday trains Saturday at fares reduced by up to 70% in hopes of attracting commuters to try the system.

“We’re hoping to get people to try Metrolink who haven’t tried it before,” said Peter Hidalgo, Metrolink spokesman. “Our goal is that if they haven’t tried it before, they’ll come back as a regular.”

Officials with the commuter line, which normally runs only weekdays, hope residents along the Ventura County and San Bernardino lines will take advantage of slashed ticket prices for the Saturday trains to head downtown to museums and other attractions, getting a feel for the train along the way.

Metrolink also wants to determine how many people might use the system if it offered weekend service, Hidalgo said.

Since opening in October, 1992, Metrolink has increased the number of commuters it serves by 400%, to 10,100 a day. The line that starts in Ventura County and runs through the San Fernando Valley accounts for 2,200 passengers per day and the line that originates in Santa Clarita transports 1,300.

Saturday passengers on the Ventura County and San Bernardino lines will be charged a one-way Flex-Train fare good for round-trip travel. Tickets can be purchased from ticket vending machines at stations on Saturday only.

Round-trip tickets from Chatsworth, normally $10, will be $4; fares from Van Nuys will be $3.25 and from Burbank and Glendale will cost $2.50.

Two morning departures are planned with one return trip late in the afternoon.

Trains leave Chatsworth at 9:01 a.m. and 12:01 p.m.; Van Nuys at 9:12 a.m. and 12:12 p.m.; Burbank at 9:22 a.m. and 12:22 p.m.; and Glendale at 9:29 a.m. and 12:29 p.m.