Manchester station was built between 1989 and 1996 as part of the Harbor Transitway and opened to passengers on August 1, 1996.[1] J Line buses serve the station twenty-four hours a day; the headway between buses is about four minutes during peak periods, with less frequent service at other times. Manchester station is also served by several Los Angeles Metro Bus and Torrance Transit bus services, most of which only run during weekday peak periods.
The busway platforms are accessed from two ground-level plazas on the north and south sides of East Manchester Avenue between South Figueroa Street and South Broadway or a pedestrian bridge from the east park and ride lot. The ground-level plazas each have a Transit Access Pass (TAP) ticket vending machine that was added in early 2017 to support all-door boarding on the J Line.[3] The station has 247 park and ride spaces in two parking lots built into the "leaves" of the partial cloverleaf interchange between Manchester Avenue and Interstate 110.[4]
J Line buses run 24 hours a day between El Monte Station, Downtown Los Angeles, and the Harbor Gateway Transit Center as route 910, with some trips continuing to San Pedro between 6 a.m. and 8 p.m. and signed as Route 950. On weekdays, buses operate every four to eight minutes during peak hours, with longer headways of 10 minutes in the midday, 20 minutes during evenings, 40 minutes during nights, and every hour overnight. On weekends, buses arrive every 15 minutes most of the day, with longer headways of 20 minutes during evenings, 40 minutes during nights, and every hour overnight.[7]
In addition to J Line buses, the busway platforms at Manchester station are also served by the all-day Los Angeles Metro Bus route 460 to Disneyland. There are also several routes that use the busway, geared towards people commuting to Los Angeles, operating only during weekday rush-hours, operating towards the city in the morning and returning at night: LA Metro Bus route 550 to San Pedro; and Torrance Transit route 4X to Torrance (also operates all-day Saturday). The station is also served by the Dodger Stadium Express shuttle that operates during home games during baseball season.[6]
Manchester station is also served by several bus routes that use bus stops near to the station on surface streets: LA Metro Bus route 45 that runs between Lincoln Heights and Rosewood via Broadway, 81 that runs between Eagle Rock and South Los Angeles via Figueroa, and 115 that runs between Playa del Rey and Norwalk via Manchester.[6][5]