For more than two decades, the City of Montclair has seen light rail to Los Angeles as its economic future. But last year, the San Bernardino County Transportation Authority pulled out of helping to fund the A Line rail extension to Montclair, dashing that dream.
And, earlier this month, Montclair sued SBCTA.
“Defendant San Bernardino County Transportation Authority (‘SBCTA’ or ‘Defendant’) has broken its decades-long promise to extend the Metro Gold Line (also known as the ‘Metro A Line’) from the City of Claremont at the Los Angeles/San Bernardino County line to the Montclair Transit Center (the ‘Montclair Segment’ of the ‘Gold Line Extension Project’),” the 23-page suit reads in part. “This decision, and the manner of it, violate the intent and procedural requirements of San Bernardino County’s voter-approved Measure I (SBCTA Ordinance No. 04-01) and SBCTA’s own, long-term commitment to build the Montclair Segment, on which the City has detrimentally relied.”
On Monday, SBCTA’s spokesperson reaffirmed its commitment to San Bernardino County communities.
“SBCTA and its Board of Directors are proud to serve San Bernardino County and its diverse communities,” SBCTA spokesperson Tim Watkins wrote in an email. “As the county’s transportation authority, we take stewardship, fiscal responsibility, and good governance seriously. We welcome the opportunity to demonstrate our commitment and our success in these areas.”
Montclair officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday.
In the works since 2004, LA Metro’s A Line extension from Pomona to Montclair would have removed an estimated 15,000 car trips off the roads each day, moving commuters between the Inland Empire and Los Angeles off the the 210, 10 and 60 freeways. (The A Line was previously known as the Gold Line.)
At their Sept. 3, 2025 meeting the San Bernardino County Transportation Authority Board of Directors voted 15-11 to defund the agency’s portion of the planned extension of the A Line to Montclair, citing concerns about increasing costs and limited input into decisions related to the project. The 29-member SBCTA board is made up of elected officials representing all corners of San Bernardino County.
The $37 million SBCTA had allocated for the project would be instead be used for other purposes, and a new ad hoc committee that would look at dramatically improving existing rail service in Montclair.
Under the existing arrangement, the Foothill Gold Line Construction Authority — which had been requesting $15.2 million for project design — didn’t give San Bernardino County a single seat with voting power over rail decisions that could impact rail service across county lines, which frustrated a number of SBCTA board members back in 2025.
Had it been built, the A Line light rail would have stopped at the Montclair Transit Center, a centerpiece of Montclair’s economic development plans. The heavy rail Metrolink already stops at the center.
According to an economic impact report created on behalf of the Construction Authority, extending the A Line to San Bernardino County would have meant 580 construction jobs and generated $1.7 million in tax revenue in San Bernardino County. Once open, according to the authority, the line would have cost a little over $5.3 million to operate each year, but would have generated $18.6 million a year in economic activity.
Last September, Montclair officials publicly were optimistic the A Line will one day reach Montclair. They pointed to 2012’s Assembly Bill 1600, authored by Rep. Norma Torres, D-Ontario, then a state Assembly member. The bill defines the eastern endpoint of what was then known as the Gold Line. Mayor John Dutrey called AB 1600 and 2004’s Measure I half-cent sales tax to fund regional transportation needs “promises” to the residents of Montclair.
That was then.
SBCTA’s “unlawful abandonment of the Gold Line Extension Project” have cost the city ” $120 million in expenses for transit-related planning, design, infrastructure and development projects in and around the Montclair Transit Center,” the suit reads in part.
The light-rail line not coming to Montclair will also cost the city an estimated $320 million in property value increases, more than $500,000 million in annual property tax revenue and an extra $5 million in tax revenue from other sources, according to the suit.
The suit also alleges the SBCTA’s decision to not fund the rail line to Montclair is discriminatory.
“SBCTA has also engaged in unlawful discrimination on the basis of race, national origin, and ethnicity,” the suit reads in part. “SBCTA has unlawfully diverted funds from Montclair, a lower-income community with higher minority and immigrant populations, to more affluent, ‘whiter’ communities. SBCTA has also disparately impacted minorities and immigrants by funneling funds from the Metro Gold Line to the Metrolink commuter rail, which historically serves fewer minorities and immigrants than does the Metro Gold Line.”
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, as of 2025, 72.5% of Montclair’s estimated 37,563 residents identify as Hispanic or Latino, compared to a state average of 41.2%. Residents had a median household income of $77,659, compared to a state average of $99,122. And 17.7% of Montclair residents lived in poverty in 2025, according to the Census Bureau, compared to 11.8% of Californians overall.
The suit also calls “SBCTA’s reallocation of Measure I funds” an “unlawful expenditure of Measure I revenue.”
Montclair wants the state superior court to “comply with Measure I and to honor its commitment to fund and complete the Montclair Segment, declaratory and injunctive relief prohibiting SBCTA from continuing to engage in unlawful discrimination and retaliation, and damages to reimburse the City for harm resulting from SBCTA’s actions.”
Meanwhile, the A Line is getting at least a little closer to Montclair.
A construction management contract overseeing an extension of the line from Pomona to Claremont, Montclair’s neighboring city, was awarded by the the Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension Construction Authority in May. It was the last contract needed before the project can begin in late 2027. Work is currently expected to be completed in late 2031.
The A Line currently runs from Long Beach to Pomona. It makes stops in downtown Los Angeles, Highland Park and Pasadena and the foothill cities of the San Gabriel Valley. A Claremont station would make the line nearly 60 miles long, with 49 stations.
More on the A Line extension to Montclair
- The Gold Line is not called the Gold Line anymore, here’s why
- State funds Pomona-to-Montclair light rail, first LA Metro project to San Bernardino County
- San Bernardino County transportation agency votes down Montclair light-rail extension
- Montclair leaders hope to get canceled A Line to city back on track
- Construction manager contract awarded to extend light-rail line from Pomona to Claremont