MTA Seeks to Rename Rail Line to Pasadena

A key committee of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority took the first step Wednesday toward renaming a light rail line between downtown Los Angeles and Pasadena the Pasadena Rose Line.

But the move to change the name drew immediate opposition from Los Angeles City Councilman Mike Hernandez, chairman of the agency building the project.

Hernandez said he would favor another name, perhaps the Arroyo Seco line, which is more inclusive of the three cities--Los Angeles, South Pasadena and Pasadena--that the line will traverse.

At the behest of MTA board member and county Supervisor Mike Antonovich, the MTA’s operations committee unanimously endorsed the name Pasadena Rose Line in an effort to eliminate confusion caused by the rail project’s current designation as the Pasadena Blue Line. The full MTA board will consider the name change next week.

Antonovich said the name is needed “to clean up the confusion with the Blue Line” from Los Angeles and Long Beach. “They are two distinct transit systems serving two distinct areas,” he said.

Hernandez said the name change offered by Antonovich came as a surprise. “I’d appreciate it if he’d do it in a spirit of cooperation,” he said.

In approving state funds for the 13.7-mile rail line last November, the California Transportation Commission raised the issue of a name change. Commissioner Dana Reed objected to calling the project the Pasadena Blue Line because it will not connect with the existing Blue Line to Long Beach. Instead, passengers will have to travel across downtown Los Angeles on the Metro Rail subway to transfer between the two lines.