Azusa Says LA Metro Ends Its Last Two Trains in the City and Has Deputies Clear the Riders. Metro’s Answer: “Not a Homeless Services Agency.”
Azusa Mayor Edward Alvarez and City Manager Sergio Gonzalez say the last two nightly trains on the Los Angeles Metro A Line end their runs in Azusa, where Sheriff’s deputies clear the passengers, even though the line has run on to Pomona since September 2025. Residents blame the late-night arrivals for thefts, attempted break-ins and vandalism.
Metro says the trains stop so crews can do maintenance. Azusa says it wrote three letters before going public.
- 1:30 a.m. to 4 a.m. — the gap between the last train into Azusa and the first morning service, per Azusa's city manager · Source: KTLA
- 45 min. — of maintenance time Metro says would remain if the trains continued to Pomona · Source: NBC Los Angeles
- 3 — letters Azusa says it sent Metro without a satisfactory reply · Source: Mayor Alvarez, per KTLA
- 57% — decline in homelessness on Metro's system since 2024, by Metro's own count · Source: LA Metro release, Aug. 3, 2026
According to NBC Los Angeles and KTLA, the last two A Line trains end in Azusa, the final one arriving around 1:30 a.m., and service resumes about 4 a.m., and the Sheriff’s Department confirmed to KABC that deputies clear passengers there. Police Chief Rocky Wenrick told NBC that calls rise at 2, 3 and 4 a.m. for noise, people at front doors and missing items, and that many late-night contacts are not residents. Hoodline adds that the city has removed courtyard benches and found light-pole wiring stripped.
Resident Anthony Lujan, whose porch overlooks the APU/Citrus College station, has filmed since March, and his footage reportedly shows people climbing a gate into a residential complex. “You know where they go? They go into the community,” he told NBC. No outlet we found counts how many riders are cleared, or how many are homeless, on a given night.
“We had written three letters and they didn't respond, and that's how it basically escalated to this point.”
Azusa Mayor Edward Alvarez · KTLA · Oct. 24, 2026
Pomona Mayor Tim Sandoval, a Metro board vice chair, gave NBC a statement on the agency’s behalf: “Metro is a transit agency, not a homeless services agency, but we are committed to keeping the system safe.” Metro says continuing to Pomona would leave crews about 45 minutes before morning service, that two other lines also stop short of their final stations overnight, and that it is studying fare gates. It cites train attendants, outreach teams and five dedicated beds through a Pomona partnership. Gonzalez says Pomona has a 400-bed facility and told KTLA, “We don’t need studies anymore, we need action.”
The fight is not new. A 2022 Metro assessment found an average of 39 unhoused people a night leaving the final two Long Beach trains, per the Long Beach Post. A CBS Los Angeles report in 2023 put end-of-line removals at more than 550 riders a night systemwide. A Sheriff’s operation at the Citrus/APU platform in August 2023 found nightly off-loads falling from 126 to 32 over five nights once fare checks and outreach began, in the department’s own weekly report.
Metro’s January 2026 count found 395 to 517 people sheltering on its system, against 631 to 684 in 2025 and 1,041 to 1,092 in 2024, which Metro calls a 57% drop since 2024, and says it connected 354 people to permanent housing in fiscal 2026. Both things can be true: the agency’s system-wide count fell while one suburb says the late-night effect lands on its streets. The record does not settle that, because no Azusa crime statistics have been published, only the chief’s account and resident video.
LA Metro board — Sets service and runs the line. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass (D) chairs it for 2026–27, per Spectrum News 1. No source we found ties her to the Azusa schedule.
Metro CEO Stephanie Wiggins — Heads the agency; no statement on Azusa found.
LA County Sheriff’s Department — Provides transit policing and confirmed the clearances.
Azusa Mayor Edward Alvarez and City Manager Sergio Gonzalez — Want fare gates and an end to clearing riders in Azusa. A city-Metro meeting is set for November 5, per the New York Post.
Azusa says its streets absorb what the A Line’s overnight schedule produces, and Metro says it runs trains, not services. The Sheriff’s Department confirms the clearances; nobody has published numbers on who is cleared or what it costs the city.
