With only two weeks left until LA Metro officially opens its long-awaited D Line extension into West Los Angeles, the transit agency has restocked and released new apparel with its viral “Ride the D” slogan.
On Friday, LA Metro announced that it had added new hats and hoodie sweatshirts with the now-infamous catchphrase, which reached viral fame earlier this and quickly sold out of stock after an online campaign that originated on the LA Metro subreddit.
The new “Ride the D” hats are listed at $25, while the unixex hoodie sweatshirts are currently listed at $48. The original t-shirts with the slogan remain priced at $21 for unisex heavyweight and $20 for a cropped version.
This is the second LA Metro merch drop this month that not only restocked the popular t-shirt, but also added new apparel.
On April 8, the public transportation agency released a major expansion of its gear with new, catchy (albeit less risque) slogans for the system’s other trains and bus rapid transit lines.
This month’s earlier drops include a shirt promoting the other L.A. subway, the B Line, which reads “Let it B,” with the same font and spacing as the original D Line shirt.
Los Angeles’ light-rail lines also got the viral merch treatment with shirts that read “A List Ride,” “C You Later,” “Explore the E,” and “K is the Culture.” The G and J lines, LA Metro’s bus rapid transit lines, now have shirts that say “Ride like a G” and “Just take the J,” respectively.
While any and all new merchandise will be welcomed by the most ardent of transit fans, some users on the LA Metro subreddit were less enthused by the expanded line of offerings, which some believe failed to capture the magic that made “Ride the D” pop off organically.
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Still, the release of two more products to celebrate two weeks to go before the D Line extension opens signals that interest in the merchandise remains high.
When will the LA Metro D Line extension open?
The D Line Subway Extension Project will add nine miles of underground tracks with seven new Metro stations along its route from downtown Los Angeles to the Westside. Section 1 will add new stations on Wilshire Boulevard at La Brea, Fairfax, and La Cienega, ultimately connecting Mid-Wilshire and the Miracle Mile to downtown L.A. and Koreatown.
It’s a multi-tiered project, with extensions being completed and opened by piecemeal. The first extension is set to open next month on May 8. It was originally slated to open to the public in late-2025, but was pushed back to 2026 after testing proved to be a bit more complicated than expected.
Section 2 of the subway extension project is 2.6 miles and will include new stations on Beverly Drive and in Century City. That segment is planned to open in spring 2027.
The final third section, which is 2.56 miles and will create an end-of-the-line station at the Westwood/VA Hospital near Sawtelle, is also tentatively scheduled to open in the fall of 2027.
Although the delays were aggravating for many, the concrete opening date, as well as the release of this commemorative gear, seems to have soothed most of the public’s frustration, especially as it’s slated to open with time to spare before the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
With the Summer Olympics and Paralympics coming to town in 2028, any increased connectivity and improved transit options will be a welcome sight.
Other projects that could become a reality in the coming months or years: the LAX People Mover is apparently in its final testing stages and is operating along its 2.25-mile track, sans riders.
Earlier this week, LA Metro announced it was beginning to look for partners to operate the proposed water taxi system to connect Long Beach and San Pedro during the 2028 Olympics.
It remains to be seen which one of those will become reality sooner, although this seems to be the closest the public has actually gotten to being able to take the train to their airport as first dreamed decades ago.
To see the full line of LA Metro’s new line-specific clothing, click here.
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