Your hotel is right by a Green Line station. You can get from there to Staples Center via the Green and the Silver lines in less than an hour.

Thank you.

Yesterday I read that and saw the videos....I was in doubt about the exit...now all is clear. Thank you !^

I'll take a look in this option too.

Thank you.

The Green Line is a light rail line. The Silver Line is a Metro Liner bus rapid transit line which runs on the I-110 high occupancy toll (HOT) lanes. The transfer point is at the Harbor Freeway Station.

Check the timetables through the linked pages to make sure that this works for you in both directions before deciding to go this route.

Thank you !

I was browsing through the site now and I think it's a great choice. We arrive from Brazil in the morning (12h+ flight) and the jet lag is big.

I was thinking now and avoid driving this day its a better option for me....

I need understand the fares. In our case, 3 people, better buy the $5 card tap ? I understood with this card it's possible to transfer between lines (green to silver)....is that correct ?

Or it's better pay for the individual fare in the bus / metro ?

And....how long is the game ??? 2 or 3 hours ?

Sorry another question: this area (redondo beach station) it's safe to arrive with wife and daughter late night ? ( I'm brazilian and for me all USA area is safe....but I know all the big cities have areas we need avoid)

You need a TAP card, but you don't need to buy a $5 pass. By the time you are here in December, Metro would have rolled out the new fare system (starts Sept 15, 2014). The fare will be $2.50 each way if you take Green Line to Silver Line, or $1.75 each way if you take Green Line to Blue Line. The day pass will be $7 and you don't need it.

Silver Line is a BRT that runs in the Express Lane on the 110 freeway. Coming from Brazil, I think you should be familiar with BRT - it's a bus that operates kind of like a train with dedicated stations.

Green Line and Blue Line are light rail metro.

The area by your hotel is very safe and you will not have any problem. Here are the steps from Google Maps: https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Resi...d34.043018!3e3

Here is how to do it:

1. Go to the ticket machine and choose buy new TAP card
2. Find the button that says add money to your TAP card
3. Select $5
4. Put in $6 cash or swipe your credit card ($1 for the card, $5 in stored value)
5. Collect your TAP card - now repeat Steps 1-5 two more times for your wife and daughter. Everyone needs their own TAP card so you need to have $18 in cash or a credit card that works.
6. TAP the card on the pylon to enter the station - it will deduct $1.75 from the balance of the card. You do not need to TAP to exit.

This is what they look like: http://la.streetsblog.org/wp-content..._turnstile.jpg


7a. If you decide to take the Silve Line BRT, get off the Green Line at Harbor Freeway station. Walk downstairs to the BRT Station and wait for the Silver Line. You have to tap when you get on the bus - it will deduct $0.75 from your card.
8a. Get off the bus at Figueroa Street and Olympic Blvd, right in front of Staples Center.

7b. If you decide to take the Blue Line, get off the Green Line at Willow Brook Station. Walk downstairs to the Blue Line Station. Make sure you tap your card before you enter the Blue Line Station - no money will be deducted from your card if you transfer within 2 hours from when you first tapped in.
8b. Get off the Blue Line at Pico Station (Flower St and Pico Blvd), it is one block from Staples Center. Most people getting off at that time will be headed towards Staples Center so just follow them.

To get back to Redondo Beach after the game, do the reverse as above, except the Silver Line bus stop is one block away on Flower Street and Pico Blvd (basically the same place as the Blue Line Station but different side of Flower Street).

If you decide to take the Blue Line back, make sure you board the Blue Line, and not the Expo Line. Those two lines share the same platform at Pico Station - Look for the destination sign - it should say Long Beach, not Culver City.

Taking the Metro to Staples is very simple and easy walk so give it a try. The most difficult part is actually buying the TAP card... the ticket machine is only in English and Spanish and the menus are needlessly complicated. Every time I use the Green Line, I end up helping tourists buy TAP card and load the correct money/pass on the card.

Just beware of the Silver Line schedule at night. It runs every 40 minutes. Use Nextbus (nextbus.com) to determine which line is coming first when you leave Staples Center. In the inbound direction the Silver Line will probably be the better alternative because it is much faster than the Blue Line.

@bzcat

^ Thank you so much for your awesome post !

I'm from Rio (but I live now in another city) and familiar with the "tap to pay" system in Metro and Bus, but Metro system in Rio is very small and the transfer between lines and buses is different from USA system.

Another difference here is: we can go and buy a single ride or double ride without need to buy a card to tap.

So for us, what we have to understand is what to buy, the fares and transfers fares, to do the right thing and pay the correct fare.

Your photo with the entrance (pylon) to the metro is very similar from Rio...we call here: roleta (PT-BR).

Thank you for your time and all the information you provided us.

@calwatch, ^

Thank you !! I'll bookmark the site to monitory the hours.

@all,

Last year (December too) we pass 10 days in NYC and I read a lot about the metro system, but in the first night we lose ourselves (take the wrong way) but after the second day and with the help of Google Maps, we use the system without many problems. The only problem was to understand where the right side to enter the system....:D

I wouldn't want to be on the silver or green line at that time of night after a Clippers game. Stick to driving, seriously.

Why ? Very crowded ?

I wouldn't subject my wife and daughter to public transit in that part of LA at night if I had access to a perfectly good rental car.

Understood. Thank you.

I wouldn't have any problem taking the Metro back to Redondo Beach at 10:30 PM. It is still a very busy hour on the Metro. The Blue Line to Green Line transfer station is near Compton, which is not the nicest part of time but honestly, if you stay inside the Metro station, there is really nothing to worry about. There is no part of LA as dangerous as any favela in Rio.

But if you already have rental car, it does make the trip back to the hotel faster, so it is something to consider.

Personally, I never drive to Staples Center for any event in the evening because of the traffic (I always take the Metro) but in your case, the three of you will spend about $18 on Metro tickets, which almost pays for parking (starts around $20) so consider the time/cost factor.

I will consider the car if I deal with the jet lag otherwise Metro / Bus.

It's the best solution.

About safety, unfortunately, I have to agree with you (about Rio and favela).

If anyone here ask me about safety in Rio, I would say: always be careful with your devices, cameras and money, no matter if you are in Copacabana, Leblon or near any "favela"area (normally tourists don't reach the "favelas" and here I don't talk about the tourist trap tour to see "favelas" like Rocinha).

Another thing about Brazil and "favelas". Here "favela" is a pejorative name (the boring thing in our days: the speech of the politically correct).

In these days the correct name is "comunidade" (community) because the majority of people who living there are people who working hard to live your lives (waiters, maids, housekeepers, drivers, doorman etc).

The bad guys are the minority. The big problem is the violence caused by the traffic / dealer of drugs.

Actually we have in Rio (started 1 or 2 years before World Cup and preparing for Olympic Games) one program to the community, call UPP (Unidade de Policia Pacificadora) = Pacification Police Unit. This program runs in the most dangerous "favelas" and reduce the violence caused by the drugs.

But the problem here is much much deeper than this.....problems that has been accumulating for many years.

And one note: in the past (long past) was safe for locals guys around "favelas", because the traffic dealers don't want the police around to investigate robbery and similar crimes....

And, as I said before, as a Brazilian, my feeling is the USA is a safe country.

Sorry for the OT (and errors in my English), but is good talk about something I think isn't so clear for foreign and tourists.

But, we have good things here too !!

Thank you !!

LA metro is incredibly safe and there is nothing to worry about.

however, the blue line train will be super crowded right after a game. and more often than not, your blue line train will arrive at rosa parks station just after your green line train leaves, forcing you to wait for the next one.

L.A. County Sheriff's Department not meeting Metro policing goals ...
http://www.latimes.com/local/cityhal...724-story.html
Jul 23, 2014 - Audit says Sheriff's Department goals to reduce crime on Metro lines aren't ... Violent crime statistics reported to the FBI were as much as 22% ...

I'm not saying the OP and family are likely to be victims, but they have access to a perfectly good rental car and I would recommend using that over taking the light rail through some of the sketchier parts of LA at night after a basketball game especially with a transfer. No offense, but tourists tend to stand out and if a thug wanted to target somebody, guess who they're going to target.