Culver City was the final terminus of phase 1 of the Expo Line and opened on June 20, 2012 as a one-stop extension less than two months after the initial portion of the line opened. The station was originally supposed to be named for its cross streets Venice/Robertson until a more area name was decided on as the station was nearing completion and a renaming was approved by the Metro Board in October 2011. The station is located on a concrete elevated structure above local streets and as of June 2013 construction is ongoing on the extension and Phase 2 of the Expo Line to Santa Monica and the sea. When I visited in 2013 the very end of the platform is a construction sight as the elevated structure is extended beyond the tracks bumper blocks to continue across Robertson Blvd.
The actual station nestled on the concrete elevated structure has a single island platform with two tracks that end at bumper blocks. Trains use a diamond crossover to switch directions before or after leaving the station. For passengers arriving at the station and finding two trains laying over in the station, there are stupidly no signs to indicate which train will leave first.
The platform has the usual aqua colored supports for canopies and a decorative wavy awning found at all Expo Line Stations. Artwork is in the form of mosaic murals, Unknowable Origins, 2012 by Tom LaDuke with abstract images of the Culver City landscape. These panels are towards either end of the platform where the station's exits are.
These exists each consist of an elevator (there two in total for the station) at the extreme end of the platform and a staircase that leads straight down to the surface arriving at a POP fare control area with TAP readers right near the bottom landings of the elevators and stairs. There are TVMs in this area by each. The western exit has a closed additional staircase at its extreme end beyond the elevator that is now for Emergency Use only since it leads into the extension construction project. A pedestrian plaza with plenty of aqua-blue benches runs between the station's two exits beneath the elevated structure. When the station opened there was a free park & ride lot with 586 parking spaces just north of this plaza. On February 14, 2017 this park & ride lot was closed for the construction of the Ivy, a transit oriented development that will include 300 new parking spaces for Metro riders, riders are directed to the park & ride lots at Expo/Bundy and Expo/Suplveda during this construction. The parking lot had along with the station has entrances at each end bounded by the intersection of Washington Blvd (the platform signs simply say Washington Bl - East Plaza) and National Blvd at its eastern end and Venice Blvd and Robertson Blvd at its western end. During construction the western exit now required walking around to the car exit and around barricades and trailers because of Expo Line Phase 2 construction. The line's namesake Exposition Blvd runs through the parking lot. The station has plenty of bus connections but lacks a bus loop. Signs on the platform direct passengers to different ends for Culver CityBus Metro Buses and Santa Monica Big Blue Bus.
Photos 1-46 taken on 23 June, 2013; 47: 22 December, 2020
Palms
