[www.latimes.com]

Soon, walking into Los Angeles Union Station could prompt a highly personalized cellphone message that goes something like this: "Welcome to Union Station. For the Metro Red Line, take the escalator to your right."

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority is developing a plan to place as many as 50 tiny wireless devices in the downtown station that would push text message-like alerts to smartphones.

Metro officials say so-called beacon technology is a cheap, efficient way to communicate with passengers on a device they're probably already using. If the pilot program goes well, the beacons could spread across Los Angeles County to reach hundreds of thousands of commuters on Metro's sprawling network of bus and rail lines.........................