The service changes are part of a larger three-year plan designed to improve public transit services while also modifying routes to allow for connections to the EXPO Phase I light rail, which is scheduled to begin service in 2012.
The following changes were approved by City Council for implementation on August 28, 2011:
* Rerouting and rescheduling of Lines 1 & 2: To reduce some duplication of service between Venice and Westwood/Pico Boulevard, Line 2 will only travel as far south as the intersection of Hill Street at Main Street. In exchange, some weekday Line 1 trips will be extended east of the Windward Circle to Walgrove Avenue along the current Line 2 routing (on weekends select trips will extend to Lincoln Boulevard instead of Walgrove Avenue). Additionally, Sunday frequency will be increased from every 20 minutes to every 15 minutes between 11 a.m. and 8:30 p.m.
* Enhancements to Rapid 7 service: To increase ridership capacity along the heavily traveled Pico Boulevard corridor, 60-foot articulated buses with increased seating capacity will be added to the Rapid 7 fleet. To further increase access to other regional connections, the Rapid 7 route will be extended 2.2 miles from the Rimpau Transit Terminal to the Metro Purple Line subway station on Wilshire Boulevard at Western Avenue. New stops will be added on Pico Boulevard near Rimpau, Crenshaw Boulevard at Pico Boulevard, Olympic Boulevard and Wilshire Boulevard, and on Western Avenue at Wilshire Boulevard. Within Santa Monica, a stop will be added on Pico Boulevard at 28th Street/Stewart Street, and in Los Angeles, a stop will be removed on Pico Boulevard at South Beverly Drive. All other existing stops and routing will be maintained.
Service between the Metro Purple Line and downtown Santa Monica will operate every 15 minutes between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m., every 20 minutes from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., and every 30 minutes from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m.
* Minor reduction in frequency of Local 7 service: All existing stops and routing will be maintained on this popular service. The morning frequency of every 10 minutes will be maintained, however frequency at all other times of the day will decrease slightly: midday (9:30 a.m. to 12 p.m.) will decrease from every 10 to every 15 minutes, afternoon (12 p.m to 7 p.m.) will decrease from every 10 to approximately every 12 minutes, and evening (7 p.m. to 10 p.m.) frequency will decrease from every 15 to every 20 minutes.
* Express 10 will become Rapid 10 service: To enhance Line 10’s schedule performance, 10 stops with the lowest passenger use will be eliminated, which is expected to improve travel times. The stops to be closed along the route headed from Downtown Los Angeles to Santa Monica will be on Alameda/E. Cesar Chavez, Hope/Temple, Flower/Third Street, Grand Avenue/11th Street, Santa Monica Boulevard/Wellesley, and Santa Monica Boulevard/Berkeley. The stops to be closed along the route headed from Santa Monica towards Downtown Los Angeles will be on Santa Monica Boulevard/Berkeley, Santa Monica Boulevard/Wellesley, Olive/11th Street, and Los Angeles Street/Arcadia.
* Reduction of Route 13 service: Because this route has low ridership, the frequency of service will be decreased by approximately 50 percent to once every 60 minutes during the week. Service will be discontinued on Saturday.
* Addition of a new Downtown Ride: This service will help improve circulation between Santa Monica’s Civic Center and the Santa Monica Downtown area. The route will operate in a loop from the Civic Center parking structure and parking lot to Santa Monica Boulevard in a clockwise pattern along 2nd Street northbound and 4th Street southbound. On weekdays, it will operate only during the peak morning hours of 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. and peak evening hours of 3:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
More information: www.BigBlueBus.com or 310-451-5444.
