The Metro Station Design Review project came from a recognition by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) across its various departments, that the existing diversity of station designs throughout the system raised a variety of issues. The maintenance of diverse materials and applications was challenging and did not promote patron recognition of Metro services system-wide.  To address these concerns, Metro commissioned Johnson Fain to review existing conditions and make recommendations to correct deficiencies and inefficiencies discovered.

To identify current “best practices” in transit station design, Johnson Fain surveyed 180 systems worldwide and eight were selected as best exemplars including New York, Washington DC, Singapore, Zurich, Copenhagen and Bilbao. The result is a system-wide “kit-of-parts” design that is capable of being implemented across all station types and configurations. These new station designs improve the legibility of Metro’s rail system, simplify maintenance protocols of the stations, are cost effective, and “raise the bar” of station design to keep pace with other world-class systems.