Metro hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony featuring confetti cannons at the new Pomona North Station, located at 241 Santa Fe St. Metro Board Chair and Whittier City Councilman Fernando Dutra provided remarks alongside Metro CEO Stephanie Wiggins and Metro Board member and Pomona Mayor Tim Sandoval.
Wil Wheaton, actor and podcast host, served as the event emcee.
After the ribbon-cutting ceremony, Metro provided an opportunity for guests to explore the four new stations -- Pomona North Station, La Verne/Pomona Fairplex, San Dimas and Glendora -- as part of its Rock the Rails event, which featured DJs, live local bands and food trucks from the San Gabriel Valley area.
Regular service began at noon, and rides are free all weekend until 3 a.m. Monday.
After years of construction, the project opened Friday, boosting public transportation access for communities in the SGV, which have lacked rail service since 1951 when the Pacific Electric Railway ceased its operations.
"What's it's going to do is connect San Gabriel Valley to the greater Los Angeles area," said Edna Stanley, Metro's deputy chief of operations. "You can get downtown to Union Station within 58 minutes, so less than an hour. Much less time spent commuting on the 210 and the 10 (freeways). In terms of residents out here, a much more economical commute."
The $1.5 billion light rail project adds another 9.1 miles to the 48.5-mile Metro A Line.
Travelers will be able to access regional destinations by rail such as major colleges and universities, parks, historic downtown, museums, hospitals, medical centers, retail and entertainment venues.
"We're very excited," said Jordan Nachbaur, owner of the Rail Side Cafe in San Dimas. "We're actually going to open a little bit earlier. I think we're going to start at 6 a.m. and probably extend our hours to 6 p.m."
Riders will also be able to connect to the Pomona Fairplex, where cricket sporting events will make their official return to the 2028 Olympic Games for the first time since 1900.
Additionally, the new Metro A Line Pomona North Station will connect with Metrolink's San Bernardino Line -- a gateway to the Inland Empire.
The project is also part of Metro's Twenty-Eight by '28 initiative to bolster public transportation in Los Angeles County ahead of the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
In January, the Foothill Gold Line Construction Authority, an independent agency created by the state in 1998, announced the light rail project reached "substantial completion" on time and on budget. The project was turned over to Metro for final testing and other approvals.
L.A. County's Measure M, a 2016 half-cent sales tax for traffic, infrastructure and transportation projects, provided a majority of funding for the light rail.
Metro officials used another $100 million generated from Measure R -- a half-cent sales tax approved by county voters in 2008 for transportation projects and programs -- to complete the now-operational Pasadena to Azusa segment.
In 2018, CalSTA's Transit and Intercity Rail Capital program provided a nearly $300 million grant for this extension as well.
City News Service contributed to this report.