Los Angeles does call the light rail system "Metro". The Metropolitan Transportation Authority in Los Angeles County (or "MTA"), is often shortened to "Metro".

Los Angeles does call the light rail system "Metro". The Metropolitan Transportation Authority in Los Angeles County (or "MTA"), is often shortened to "Metro". The website is even www.metro.net - which covers busses and rail, but when people around LA say "we took the Metro" they typically mean the light rail system, which is mostly above ground, but there are underground segments of it. When they say "we took the MTA" they usually mean a bus line specific to the MTA system. There are many other local bus lines in addition to MTA, like Culver City Bus, Big Blue Bus (Santa Monica), etc., and "MTA" was always used to differentiate bus lines. It's pretty much only the rail system getting called "Metro" in LA from my experience.