The La Cienega Metro station is expected to open by March. (photo by Tabor Brewster)

The city of Beverly Hills is preparing for the opening of its first Metro train station. With the La Cienega station expected to open by March, the Beverly Hills City Council, city staff and the Beverly Hills Police Department are taking action to ensure public safety when Beverly Hills becomes connected to the greater Los Angeles area by subway.

Construction is nearly complete on Section One of the D Line subway extension project. In the first quarter of 2026, the Wilshire/La Brea, Wilshire/Fairfax and Wilshire/La Cienega stations are anticipated to open.

“The remaining work focuses on final testing, finishing touches inside the stations, and preparing the system for service,” a statement from Metro read. “This includes completing systems integration testing, final punch-list items, safety certifications and restoring the streets and sidewalks around the stations. These final steps are taken to ensure the stations, tunnels, trains and support systems all operate safely and reliably before opening.”

At a recent City Council study session, Beverly Hills Human Services Administrator Enisha Clark presented an overview of the steps city staff is taking to prepare for the La Cienega station’s opening.

“While the expansion brings important transportation benefits, it also creates new operational considerations during late-night and early morning hours,” Clark said.

She explained that because of the construction timeline, the La Cienega stop will temporarily function as an end-of-line station. While the Metro D Line will eventually connect Downtown Los Angeles to Westwood, the next section scheduled to be completed – which includes the Beverly Drive and Century City Stations – will not open until 2027. During this time, the La Cienega Station will be the westernmost stop on the D Line. Additionally, Metro has announced plans for a daily rail cleaning service.

“As a result of temporarily being responsible for end-of-line operations, the city anticipates changes in pedestrian patterns,” Clark said. “This includes increased foot traffic during the day, and an influx of passengers entering the city late at night and early in the morning. These riders may include individuals experiencing homelessness, people in mental health crises, riders unfamiliar with the area or individuals disconnected from services.”

According to the city, observed challenges for end-of-line stations include early morning loitering, a greater demand for behavioral-health interventions, sanitation impacts and elevated calls for service from nearby businesses.

In response, Clark said the city will bring together various departments including the Beverly Hills Fire and Police Departments, Department of Mental Health, Beverly Hills Outreach Team, contracted security teams, park rangers and public works to provide a comprehensive approach to provide services to unhoused individuals.

“It is really up to us to ensure that we have a safe community and also that anybody who may be homeless gets the help that they need,” Councilman John Mirisch said. “It’s sad that we’re faced with this overall issue in Southern California compared with other places … [we’ve] looked at what happens in other end-of-the-line places like Santa Monica. For us, I guess this is going to be temporary.”

Existing programs including the Beverly Hills Outreach Team will be mobilized near the station to provide assistance to unhoused individuals and connect them with essential services. The BHPD will retain primary enforcement authority for reports of criminal activity, in addition to preventing encampments and addressing safety concerns.

Additionally, before the station opens, the city’s Department of Human Services will conduct outreach to property owners in the area. The city is currently seeking trespass enforcement authorization from business and property owners in order to grant the BHPD the authority to enforce trespassing laws on private property.

“This is really a team effort, and we’re in new territory,” Mayor Sharona Nazarian said. “This is something that we need to continue to keep educating ourselves on, working together in different partnerships with all the various departments to be able to come to solutions that are going to be both empathetic, thoughtful and meaningful.”

Following the opening of the station, the city will collect data including number of riders offloading each night, the number of late night and early morning engagements, calls for service and sanitation and environmental trends. City staff will hold weekly collaboration meetings across several departments to review the data and adjust operations.

While the city is preparing to ramp up public safety efforts near the station, Metro said in a statement that it is “dedicated to making every ride on Metro a safe and welcoming experience.”

“Over the last two years, Metro has invested hundreds of millions to deploy a new safety and security strategy on the rail system, focused on engaged visible presence, access control and stepped-up outreach to people in need on our system,” the statement read. “Like all Metro stations, the new D Line stations will have security cameras installed throughout and will offer security coverage 24 hours a day, seven days a week. All the new D Line stations will also have the taller fare gates with modern features such as precise motion sensors to reduce piggybacking, electromechanical locks to prevent forced entries and paddle-style doors that improve accessibility for customers.”

According to Metro, the taller faregates resulted in a 22% increase in paid station entries after they were introduced in North Hollywood. Additionally, reports made on Metro’s Transit Watch app declined by 70% at the station after the gates were installed. Metro also noted that violent crime decreased by 12% systemwide between January and September 2025.

Residents with questions and concerns about the D Line Extension project can call the 24-hour project hotline at (213)922-6934, email the project team at purplelineext@metro.net or visit metro.net.