Anaheim Regional Transportation Intermodal Center

The Anaheim Regional Transportation Intermodal Center, or ARTIC, is a busy transportation hub in Anaheim, California. It serves as a train station for Amtrak and Metrolink and as a bus station for several bus services like OCTA and Anaheim Resort Transportation. ARTIC opened in 2014, replacing an older station that had been in use since 1984.

Designed by the architecture firm HOK, the ARTIC building has a special design with a tall glass wall and a curved roof covered with air-filled plastic pillows. The roof lights up with colorful lights that can be seen from far away.

ARTIC is located near important places in Anaheim, including the Platinum Triangle and the Anaheim Resort area. It is close to California State Route 57 and can be reached by bike from the Santa Ana River Trail.

Transit oriented development

ARTIC was planned to help rebuild the area around it with special development focused on places near public transport. By 2019, the station was close to many people—about 7.7 million living within 25 miles and 15 million within 50 miles.

In 2022, the city decided to build a new parking area for the station on the other side of Douglass Road. This is because the current parking spot will be used for a fun area near the Honda Center. Money was approved in 2023 for a pathway above Katella Avenue for people to walk safely.

The station sits on a 16-acre area near two big roads: State Route 57 and Interstate 5. The Honda Center is nearby, and you can reach one gate of Angel Stadium by going under Douglass Road. The station connects to a trail along the Santa Ana River and has places to lock bikes. It also links to Disneyland Resort through a special bus line.

During the 2028 Summer Olympics, the station will help people get to and from Olympic events in Anaheim. The nearby Honda Center will host indoor volleyball games.

Besides local buses, the station offers trips to places far away. When the station opened in 2014, Megabus started routes to Los Angeles, San Jose, Oakland, and San Francisco. Greyhound also began using the station that day. Another company, Tres Estrellas de Oro, started services to Tijuana and Guadalajara, Mexico in January 2016.

The ARTIC site might also become a stop for the California High-Speed Rail. It was once planned to be the end point for a super-fast train between California and Nevada and for a streetcar system connecting many spots in the Anaheim Resort and Platinum Triangle areas.

History of rail service

A branch of the Southern Pacific Railway reached Anaheim in 1875. In 1887, a line to San Diego was built by the Santa Fe Railway. By 1921, there were two Southern Pacific stations and one Santa Fe station in the area. Rail service stopped for a while but started again in 1984 when Anaheim built a station for the Amtrak San Diegan.

In 1986, a new station called Anaheim–Stadium was built closer to Anaheim Stadium. It was designed to hold about 75 people at a time. In 1990, the Orange County Line began stopping there, and in 1994 it became part of Metrolink’s services. The San Diegan name was changed to the Pacific Surfliner in 2000.

Site development and construction

The current site used to belong to Orange County and had old buildings for different county jobs. The Orange County Transportation Authority helped get the 13.5-acre property ready for a new transportation center. In 2006, the county agreed to sell the land, and in 2012, the city of Anaheim bought the rest of the property to build the new center.

The project needed approvals from environmental laws, which were finished in 2010 and 2012. A design team started planning in May 2012, and construction began in September that year. The new center opened for trains on December 6, 2014.

The main building cost about $68 million of the total $185 million needed for the whole project. Running the center was expected to cost $5 million each year but was lower in the first year. A local tax called Measure M helped pay for most of the building costs. There were some challenges, like making sure the train platform was the right height for everyone, but the project stayed within its budget thanks to a special fund for unexpected expenses.

Structure

The Anaheim Regional Transportation Intermodal Center is a big building made of steel-framed tubes. It is 67,880 square feet (6,306 m²) and has a special curved roof covered with a material called ethylene tetrafluoroethylene (ETFE). This roof lets in soft sunlight to light up the inside of the building. At night, the roof can glow in any color thanks to 1,354 energy-saving lights.

The entrance has a tall glass wall that is 120 feet high (37 m), leading to a big lobby with ticket counters. There is a plaza outside that leads to thirteen bus stops. The second floor has space for offices and two restaurants, while the third floor has a small lobby and a bridge that helps people get to the train tracks.

The building earned a LEED Platinum award and won the 2015 Public Works Project of the Year from the American Public Works Association. It uses smart ways to heat and cool spaces, and some of its power comes from solar panels on the parking structures. Recycled materials were also used in building it.

Artist Mikyoung Kim created the only piece of public art in the center. It is a special holographic display in the main staircase that changes with different times and conditions.

The transit center is liked for its looks and is seen as a special landmark for the city of Anaheim. People have compared its inside to famous old train stations like Grand Central Terminal. However, some people think it is not easy to get to the train platforms, and the center is located in a big area with lots of parking, which some find isolating.

Operational costs and revenue sources

The city of Anaheim is in charge of keeping the transportation center running and making sure it’s well-maintained. They hoped the center would pay for itself through different ways, like ads, a sponsor, and renting space to businesses. In the early years, most money came from a small fee added to hotel bills in the resort area. Additional money also came from a special tax to help improve transportation. The city later started getting rent from businesses at the center and looked for more money by hosting events and filming.

The city approved two big signs to give directions and show ads for the transit hub. They also planned a very tall digital sign facing a nearby road to make more money from ads, but decided not to put it up, even though it could have helped pay for running the center. They are still trying to find a sponsor to help pay for the center’s costs.

In popular culture

The station appeared in the final episode of the second season of the HBO series True Detective.

In the second season of The Morning Show, the station was used to look like a train station in Wuhan, China, at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. This was because the station's design looked similar.

Ridership

In 2013, before a new station opened, about 500 people used the train each day on one service, and about 400 used another service. Each year, around 224,500 people traveled to or from the station with that service in 2013.

Leaders thought many more people would use the station after it was rebuilt. At first, about 2,400 people used it each day, going up to 3,900 on busy days with events nearby.

By 2019, the number grew to between 4,200 and 5,500 people each day. That year, one train service had 287,415 people getting on or off, and its bus service had about 950 passengers.

Amtrak ridership

In 2019, one train service had 242,032 people arriving or leaving the station. All these were regular or business class tickets.

That same year, the average trip to or from the station was 73 miles long. Most trips, about 92%, were to places less than 100 miles away. About 6% were between 100 and 200 miles, and 2% were more than 200 miles.

The average cost for a ticket that year was $25.00.

Annual Amtrak passenger traffic

Top station pairs by Amtrak ridership

The following is the top-ten stations which receive the most ridership to/from ARTIC out of the twenty-eight stations that the Pacific Surfliner connects ARTIC to/from.

Top station pairs by Amtrak revenue

The following is the top-ten stations which generate the most revenue from trips to/from ARTIC out of the twenty-eight stations that the Pacific Surfliner connects ARTIC to/from.

Hours and frequency

The Anaheim Regional Transportation Intermodal Center has 26 Amtrak Pacific Surfliner trains each day, with 13 trains going each way. These trains run evenly throughout the day.

On weekdays, the center also has 26 Metrolink Orange County Line trains, with 13 trains going each way. On weekends, there are 4 trains each day, 2 in each direction, running in the morning and evening.