CANOGA PARK (CBS) — Metro will offer free rides all weekend long to celebrate the opening the new four-mile Orange Line extension from Canoga Park to Chatsworth.

KNX 1070′s John Brooks reports now riders can take a day trip from Ventura County to Long Beach without battling any freeway traffic.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Los Angeles County Supervisors and Metro board members Zev Yaroslavsky and Michael
Antonovich were among those officials on hand for the ribbon-cutting ceremony that marks the latest extension for the now-18-mile-long San Fernando Valley busway.

An estimated 27,000 people ride what Villaraigosa described as the “rubber-wheel choo-choo” — 60-foot-long buses that slightly resemble trains on wheels.

City Councilman Dennis Zine was also there to remind riders the extension means one could take the train in from Ventura County, jump on the Orange Line bus in Chatsworth, then get on the subway in North Hollywood and take that down to Union Station to baord another train to Long Beach.

“I’ve gone to the Long Beach Grand Prix with my sons, so you want to go to dinner in Long Beach, you can do that,” said Zine.

Free rides along the Orange Line will be available to the public on Saturday and Sunday.

Click here to find the nearest Orange Line location.