Transportation

Fun Adventure – Metrolink Friends and Family 4 pack

My almost 4 year old son has been obsessed with trains ever since I can remember. He loves every kind of train, from miniatures to the commuter trains he sees everyday.

He will be taking a field trip with school to Union Station soon and he is so excited he can’t stand it. He talks about it every single day! I think he forgot that just a few months ago, we took this same trip ourselves. We parked our car at the Fullerton Station and took off on our adventure to Union Station. We had a great time touring the beautiful station and actually wound up riding the subway from Union Station to Hollywood and Highland. It was an inexpensive but very fun trip that my daughter still talks about. My son actually only remembers the subway segment and nothing else.

Needless to day when I read about this great deal from the folks at Metrolink, I had to pass it on.  You can purchase a family four pack of round trip tickets on Metrolink for $29 to use on the weekends. I would highly recommend taking the train to Union Station, touring the station, riding the subway to Hollywood and Highland and having a fun lunch at Hollywood and Highland. I can’t rave enough about what a great time we had as a family when we did it.

Here are the details..

The Metrolink “Friends and Family 4-Pack” (FF4P) is a ticket package specifically geared toward weekend travellers. It consists of a package of four individual round trip tickets that can be purchased from any Metrolink ticket vending machine (TVM).  The FF4P round trip ticket will allow a group of up to four persons to travel together on Metrolink all day on either Saturday or Sunday for only $29.

  • Press the “Friends and Family 4-Pack” button on the ticket vending machine ONCE only.  Four individual round trip tickets will be dispensed from the ticket machine.  DO NOT PRESS THE “FRIENDS AND FAMILY 4-PACK” BUTTON MORE THAN ONCE FOR EACH SET OF 4 TICKETS.
  • Future dated (advance purchase) FF4P tickets are also available through the TVMs.
  • FF4P is good for weekend systemwide travel on date of purchase.
  • FF4P is also available for Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving Friday and New Year’s Day.

Restrictions for the FF4P include:

  • Valid for Saturday or Sunday travel only
  • Up to four persons may travel together, as a group, not separately, on the FF4P
  • Not transferable to Amtrak Pacific Surfliner trains
  • Not valid for free transfers to EZ Transit Pass operators including the Metro Rail Lines and bus operators.
  • No refunds for this 4-Pack tickets

It is a great deal! To learn more about the Friends and Family Deal head here. Happy exploring!

A Transportation Adventure…



Last week we had the opportunity as a family to learn all about public transportation. Like many of you, I try to teach my kids about different subjects hands on. I wanted them to learn about the various forms of public transportation and decided the best way was to make a day of it and head to downtown Los Angeles to learn all about trains and subways. We took the Metrolink train into Downtown LA. The Metrolink is seriously fun and super cheap on the weekends (25% off). We headed into Union Station and admired the various tunnels and of course all of the trains.

We really wanted to ride the subway and decided to take it to Hollywood and Highland. The best part is that you can catch the subway/red line from Union Station. It was pretty simple to maneuver even with a double stroller. There are escalators down to the subway platform and elevators that are perfect to fit in your strollers. The subway runs about every 10 minutes on the weekends. After what seemed to be only 5 minutes of waiting our train came by and we headed on our adventure!! It takes 20 minutes to ride from Downtown’s Union Station to the Hollywood and Highland Complex. The kids loved every single minute of the ride and so did we.

We reached our destination and proceeded to enjoy a fun afternoon walking around the complex, enjoying the walk of fame and just taking in all of the sights. We spent a couple of hours at the complex and headed back on the subway to Union Station and on home. The kids had a great time and our excursion was pretty inexpensive. A Metrolink ticket will get you a free ride on the subway and children 5 and under are free. I think with dinner and treats we spent less than $30.00 that day. It was an all day adventure that we won’t soon forget!! We live in Orange County but if you live elsewhere you could do the blue/gold line and the subway. I know that the Metrolink runs a weekend route from the Antelope Valley Lines and San Bernardino Line. We had a blast and so will you- I promise!! For information about Metrolink and schedules click here and for subway/gold/blue line info click here