Reminder: Free Bus, Rail Rides During 405 Closure

Los Angeles - People trying to get around the Southland this weekend despite the closure of the San Diego (405) Freeway can consider some mass-transit alternatives -- some of them free.

Metro is offering free rides on 26 of its bus lines along major Westside and San Fernando arteries. They include buses along Venice, Wilshire, Santa Monica and Sunset boulevards from downtown to the Westside. A rapid bus connecting the San Fernando Valley and Westwood along Sepulveda Boulevard and east-west routes throughout the Valley will also be free.

Metro will also offer free service on the Red and Purple Line subways and the Orange Line bus corridor through the San Fernando Valley from Woodland Hills to North Hollywood.

The agency will also be adding 61 buses to eight major bus lines, including the 2, which links downtown to the Pacific Palisades along Sunset Boulevard, and rapid buses that travel to Santa Monica along Wilshire and Santa Monica boulevards. It will also add 16 buses to enhance late night service on some of those routes.

A complete list of the free and expanded transit routes during the construction is at

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Metrolink, meanwhile, will be offering $10 unlimited weekend ride passes.

Amtrak offered half-price fares to passengers traveling between Union Station and Bob Hope Airport in Burbank. With the discount, the fare between downtown Los Angeles and Burbank on the Pacific Surfliner train will be $3 each way. The fare for children aged 2 to 15 who are accompanied by an adult will be $1.50 each way.

Metro is the lead agency on the project to remove part of the historic Mulholland Bridge this weekend. Until early Monday, the northbound 405 Freeway will be closed for a 10-mile stretch between the Santa Monica (10) Freeway and the Ventura (101) Freeway. The southbound freeway will be closed for four miles between the 101 and Getty Center Drive.