"Rolling this out before the Reeves/Beverly Drive/Rodeo station is opened may not really be the best test of what the microtransit system could bring us," Councilman Lester Friedman said on Aug. 4, according to Beverly Press. That night the City Council voted down a two-year shuttle pilot meant to carry riders to the subway.
The station Friedman named, at Wilshire and Reeves, is still months from service. Since May 8, 2026, Metro D Line trains have stopped at Wilshire/La Cienega, on the city's southeast edge, and they run straight through to Union Station. The station near Rodeo Drive is still behind construction barriers. Until it opens, La Cienega is the only rail station Beverly Hills has. The council's August decisions point the same way: it put money into a Public Safety Center at that corner and turned down the shuttle pilot.
A Beverly Hills Station, Signed as One
The entrance is at the northeast corner of Wilshire and La Cienega boulevards. Los Angeles City Planning places that intersection inside Beverly Hills. Metro's first/last-mile plan notes that the area around the station takes in both cities, with San Vicente Boulevard as the line between them. The city has started marking the corner as its own. Beverly Press reported on Oct. 8 that crews had put up new street signs carrying the Beverly Hills city logo on the traffic signals at Wilshire/La Cienega.
When Metro announced the opening date in March, then-Mayor Sharona Nazarian called it a milestone for the city and a chance to revitalize its southeast area, Beverly Press reported. The city's Arts and Cultural Commission helped choose the station's artists, so the art fits the same pattern. Todd Gray was commissioned for the entrance, Mariana Castillo Deball for the concourse and Soo Kim for the platform. Metro's art program lists all three. Soo Kim teaches at Otis College of Art and Design. Her work is in the collections of the J. Paul Getty Museum and LACMA, and LACMA is one stop east of the station.
What One Stop, or Twenty Minutes, Reaches
Opening day started with a ceremony at the Petersen Automotive Museum. Passenger service began at 12:30 p.m. after Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, Supervisor Lindsey Horvath and Metro officials rode the first train, ABC7 reported. The museum was a fitting choice, because the museums are the most direct payoff for anyone boarding at La Cienega.
From Wilshire/La Cienega | How far | What's there |
|---|---|---|
Wilshire/Fairfax | One stop east | LACMA, Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, Petersen Automotive Museum, Craft Contemporary, La Brea Tar Pits and Museum |
Union Station | About 20 minutes, no transfer | Downtown Los Angeles and the wider Metro system |
On foot from the station | Walking distance | Restaurant Row, including Lawry's The Prime Rib |
Under a mile | Short walk or ride | Beverly Center, Cedars-Sinai |
Metro's opening guide puts the trip to Union Station at about 20 minutes. Beverly Press clocked downtown to the eastern edge of Beverly Hills at 21. At opening, Metro listed trains from about 4:10 a.m. to 12:30 a.m. daily. They came every 10 minutes for much of the day and every 20 minutes early in the morning and late at night. The guide listed a $1.75 one-way fare with free transfers for two hours, and fare caps of $5 a day and $18 a week. Those are May figures, so check Metro's current schedule and fares before a first trip.
The Riders Arrived Before Any Shuttle Did
Ridership grew quickly. Metro reported 650,857 D Line boardings in August 2026, nearly 63% more than in August 2025. Average Sunday boardings reached 16,417, up 71.62% over the same month a year earlier. Metro credits the three new stations together with roughly 8,000 to 10,000 added daily rides after they opened. Sunday growth outpaced the line's overall August gain.
Getting to the platform is still up to each rider. Metro built no new parking garage at the station, and the city expects riders to use existing parking within half a mile. Metro planned bike lockers and bike hubs with camera monitoring at the station plazas. The Via pilot the council turned down would have filled that gap. According to Beverly Press, the proposal called for:
- Four dedicated electric vehicles plus a spare, booked by app or phone
- Folding the existing Dial-A-Ride program into a citywide on-demand service, with trips to the D Line stations and the Cedars-Sinai area
- About 200 rides a day at roughly $20 per trip
- An estimated $3.1 million over two years, paid from Proposition A transit funds
The council voted to put $2.2 million of those Proposition A funds toward building the Public Safety Center at the Wilshire/La Cienega station. Mayor Craig Corman listed other uses he had in mind for the money, including a drop-off lane, parking at the Gale Yard property and a security facility near the Reeves station. Vice Mayor Mary Wells said she would rather start with a smaller pilot built around Metro connections and senior rides. Friedman said any future program should focus on first- and last-mile trips to stations. For now, the city's transit money at La Cienega is going into the station itself.
Meanwhile, at Wilshire and Reeves
The second station already has a new name. Metro's board adopted Beverly Dr Station as the official name at its May 22, 2025 meeting, replacing the long-used "Wilshire/Rodeo." Its entrance will be at the southwest corner of Wilshire Boulevard and Reeves Drive. From there, the city says, riders can walk into the Golden Triangle and onto Rodeo Drive. The Beverly Wilshire, A Four Seasons Hotel, at 9500 Wilshire Boulevard, and The Maybourne Beverly Hills, at 225 North Cañon Drive, are both close by.
The opening date hasn't changed. Metro's Oct. 14, 2026 community meeting presentation forecasts Beverly Dr and Century City service for Spring 2027 and Westwood for Fall 2027, both marked subject to change. On the street, crews are working inside K-rail barriers on both sides of Wilshire. Two lanes stay open in each direction between Beverly and Crescent drives, the north-side sidewalks may close, and Beverly Drive may narrow to one lane each way, Beverly Press reported.
Metro's October presentation also outlines what the block should look like when the barriers come down. Plans include restoring the alley behind The Maybourne, planting trees, adding a landscaped median on Wilshire, and rebuilding sidewalks and ADA ramps. As of Sept. 30, 2026, Metro's Business Interruption Fund had made 11 grants totaling $482,583.45 to businesses around Beverly Dr Station. The city says Wilshire crossings at Beverly Drive and North and South Cañon Drive will connect pedestrians across the boulevard, with new wayfinding planned under its Complete Streets and Connect BH plans.
Dates already set between now and the second opening:
- Thursday, Oct. 29, 2026. Metro's free Eat Shop Play program holds a holiday-photo workshop for businesses near the stations.
- Through Jan. 15, 2027. A sidewalk closure and a southbound lane reduction on Avenue of the Stars continue at the Century City station, one stop west of Beverly Dr.
- Spring 2027. Metro's forecast for trains at Wilshire and Reeves.
Until then, the city's subway starts at the northeast corner of Wilshire and La Cienega. Trains reach Union Station in about 20 minutes, and LACMA is one stop away.
If you own property near either station and want to think through what the next year of construction, restoration and opening might mean for it, Amir Jawaherian offers a private, confidential consultation.
