In a statewide survey of rail stations, including the Bay Area's BART and MUNI, the Los Angeles Metro system averaged a C for their efforts in creating stations that encourage ridership and serve as hubs of transit-centered communities. The grading, done by UC Berkeley's Center for Law, Energy and the Environment and nonprofit Next 10, took into account 11 criteria including walkability, the land uses of surrounding areas, and resident ridership levels at Metro's 88 rail stations, says a release for the study. Metro's best-ranked station? Westlake/MacArthur Park, located in a densely populated, "transit-dependent" neighborhood, notes the LA Times.
Westlake/MacArthur Park received high rankings for the "diversity of destinations, walkability, transit access, and affordability" of the area surrounding the station, but it received a low score for safety because there's also a fair amount of crime in the neighborhood. The Red Line's Hollywood/Western, the Purple Line's Wilshire/Western, and the Gold Line's Mariachi Plaza/Boyle Heights stations alll received top scores too. Every stop along the Red and Purple Lines received either an A or a B, "and [all] were among the best-performing facilities."
The lone F that Metro received went to the Blue Line's Wardlow Station in Long Beach. The station "serves an auto-dominated area and is located by a major boulevard and parking lots without significant pedestrian activity or concentrations of jobs or housing," says a summary of the findings for LA. The Blue Line's Willow, Artesia, and Del Amo stations were also among the bottom five, along with the Green Line's Norwalk station.