Big Blue Bus
Brighter Blue COA
Final Report | June 2024
i
Contents
INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 OVERVIEW OF EXISTING CONDITIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 COMMUNITY OUTREACH – PHASE I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 GUIDING PRINCIPLES AND FRAMEWORK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 NETWORK RECOMMENDATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10 TITLE VI ANALYSIS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17 IMPLEMENTATION PLAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 COMMUNITY OUTREACH – PHASE II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20 CHANGES FROM THE DRAFT TO FINAL SERVICE PLAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21 CORRIDORS FOR IMPROVING TRANSIT SPEED & RELIABILITY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22 CONCLUSION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25 Brighter Blue COA | Final Report 1
Introduction
The Brighter Blue Comprehensive Operational Analysis is a five-year plan aimed at improving the Big Blue Bus transit network serving Santa Monica and the greater West Los Angeles area. The plan outlines an approach for increasing service back to pre-pandemic levels while acknowledging that travel patterns have shifted as a result of COVID-19. The proposed service plan is designed to match current trip patterns and rider behavior rather than simply restoring the bus network as it was in 2019.
Additionally, multiple highly anticipated transportation projects under construction will impact the mobility
landscape in the Big Blue Bus service area over the
next few years, namely the opening of the D Line
subway to Westwood and extension of the K
Line to LAX. It is important for a future Big
Blue Bus service plan to address these
upcoming changes.
2 Overview of Existing Conditions
The Brighter Blue COA started with a comprehensive overview and analysis of existing conditions to understand the planning environment for transit service in Santa Monica and West Los Angeles. The Existing Conditions report is made up of four parts:
■ Planning Context: an overview of land use policies, planned development, and other transit services affecting demand for Big Blue Bus services.
■ Market Assessment: an analysis of market demand for transit within the Big Blue Bus service area based on population characteristics, employment opportunities, regional travel demand patterns and the design of the built environment.
■ On-Board Findings: a summary of findings from the Spring 2023 onboard survey including rider characteristics, satisfaction with Big Blue Bus service, priorities for service design, and desired areas of improvement. ■ Service Evaluation: an analysis of the performance of current Big Blue Bus routes with a comparison to pre-COVID service evaluating the efficiency and effectiveness of service delivery.
The complete Existing Conditions Report can be found in Appendix A. 3 Planning Context
The Brighter Blue COA was not developed in a vacuum; the COA takes into account land use policies, planned developments and other transit service that are affecting and will affect demand for Big Blue Bus services. Findings from an analysis of planning and development efforts, both past and future, that impact the Big Blue COA include:
Big Blue Bus’s response to the COVID-19 Pandemic has had a major impact on how service is being provided. Bus service levels have not returned to pre-pandemic levels as the City has faced a shortage of motor coach operators and lowered ridership demand to key destinations such as Santa Monica College.
The last major service changes to Big Blue Bus service prior to the COVID-19 Pandemic were the result of the 2015 COA. Most changes included in the 2015 plan were centered on leveraging the opening of the then new E Line. Since the last plan, so much has changed in the service area in terms of population and job growth, changes in travel patterns, and new developments that should be addressed in Big Blue Bus service delivery.
The expansion of LA Metro rail service will have a significant impact on how people travel throughout Big Blue Bus’s service area. The Metro K Line will change how people take transit to and from LAX. Big Blue Bus service will have to be reconfigured to serve the new D Line stations at UCLA and at the VA Medical Center.
Big Blue Bus is currently transitioning to a 100% zero-emission fleet.
Redesigning Big Blue Bus service will have to account for the limitations of battery-electric vehicles to some degree while also implementing charging infrastructure at its yard.
Several events from the 2028 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games will be held in venues throughout the Big Blue Bus service area. Big Blue Bus should anticipate and plan for the need for stop closures/ relocations during events and temporary transit lanes to maintain bus speeds and reliability.
Brighter Blue COA | Final Report
Big Blue Bus is well positioned to serve areas of future development in Santa Monica. Future development in the Big Blue Bus service area is expected to be concentrated along the Wilshire Boulevard, Santa Monica Boulevard, Lincoln Boulevard, and Pico Boulevard corridors within Santa Monica, as well as Downtown Santa Monica and surrounding Metro E Line stations.
Market Assessment
The Market Assessment analyzed the demand for transit within the service area based on population characteristics, employment opportunities, regional travel demand patterns and the design of the built environment. Among the major findings of the analysis were:
The Big Blue Bus service area is characterized by high population densities that are conducive to transit usage. Areas of high population density make up the majority of the Big Blue Bus service area; reliable and effective transit should result in high levels of ridership.
Santa Monica is an important employment destination in the greater Los Angeles region. 75,000 employees travel into the city to work, 36,000 leave the city to work and 8,000 travel within the city to work.
The COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting shift toward hybrid and remote work have altered demand for travel across Big Blue Bus’s service area. High office vacancies and hybrid work policies have had and will continue to have a significant impact on transit demand.
Transit service should be improved in areas that are experiencing rapid mixed-use and affordable housing development. These areas include Palms/Culver City, Downtown Santa Monica and areas around Metro E Line stations.
The extension of the Metro D Line to Westwood and the VA Medical Center presents a significant opportunity to gain ridership on Big Blue Bus services. Routes that will most likely experience a significant boost in ridership demand upon the completion of the D Line extension include Routes 1, 2, 8, R12, 14, 16, 17, and 18.
4 On-Board Survey Findings
An on-board survey was conducted in May 2023, collecting 1,127 valid responses systemwide with 40 to 60 responses per route based on route-level ridership. Figure 1 shows the general characteristics of survey respondents.
Figure 1: CHAR ACT ERISTICS OF BIG BLUE BUS RIDERS
Major findings from the survey include:
Respondents ranked bus and stop safety, timeliness of buses and having accurate real-time arrival time information as the most important aspects of service. Focusing on improving these aspects of the rider experience can help ensure that Big Blue Bus retains riders and can attract more riders in the future.
The qualities of Big Blue Bus service that respondents were least satisfied with were bus frequency and bus service reliability. These categories also had the greatest difference between level of importance and level of satisfaction, suggesting they are critical areas in need of improvement to enhance the customer experience. Bus service frequency has declined following post-pandemic service changes while Big Blue Bus service has been failing to meet on time performance standards.
The most important improvement that respondents stated would encourage more ridership was increased service frequency. Big Blue Bus should look to allocate resources to improving frequency on existing services where possible.
The majority of respondents, 72%, preferred a shorter wait for the bus compared to a shorter walk to the stop. Finding opportunities to increase frequency even if it means some customers may have longer walks to stop may be an important tradeoff to make in redesigned service.
The majority of respondents, 85%, preferred fixed-route service to ondemand service. Big Blue Bus should ensure that they are allocating their resources in ways that passengers want by ensuring a robust fixed-route network.
UCLA and Santa Monica College students make up a large proportion of Big Blue Bus riders, 31% of respondents were between 18 and 24 years old. Improvements to services serving UCLA and Santa Monica College will go a long way in improving the riding experience for a significant portion of Big Blue Bus riders.
Figure 2: IMPORTANCE VS. SATISFACTION MATRIX FROM ON-BOARD SURV E Y 54% of respondents
have an annual income
below $35,000
8% of respondents
are K-12 students
31% of respondents
are university students
42% of respondents
transfer at least once
27% of respondents
come from zero-vehicle
households
49% of respondents use
the system at least ve days
a week
Respondent Profile
Category Importance Satisfaction Difference
Bus on Time 4.47 3.57 0.90
Bus Frequency 4.40 3.52 0.88
Stop Safety 4.49 3.78 0.71
Arrival Time Info 4.46 3.83 0.63
BBB Safety 4.52 4.04 0.48
Service Availability 4.25 3.78 0.48
Bus Cleanliness 4.42 4.03 0.39
Customer Service 4.11 3.93 0.19
Transfer Ease 4.09 3.94 0.16
Trip Time 4.1 3.98 0.11
Stop Distance 4.21 4.17 0.04
Seat Availability 4.19 4.16 0.03
Paying Ease 4.21 4.29 -0.08
Cost 4.1 4.2 -0.11
5 Service Evaluation
The Service Evaluation included a comprehensive look at route and stop-level performance based on April 2023 data. The analysis found that:
Ridership on Big Blue Bus is still recovering from the significant impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2023, there were 8.1 million trips taken on Big Blue Bus, down from 2019 ridership of 12,640,800 and down from peak ridership in 2010 of 21,170,600. Ridership was severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, with ridership in 2021 down 57% relative to 2019 levels. Ridership has improved somewhat since the onset of the pandemic with ridership increasing 30% between 2021 and 2022.
Figure 3: MONTHLY RIDERSHIP AND RE V ENUE HOURS 2019 TO 2023 Ridership is concentrated during peak periods, with 47% of daily boardings occurring between 6-9 AM and 3-6 PM. Flexible work schedules have led to people starting their commutes later in the morning and taking trips earlier in the afternoon. Overall, ridership patterns by time of day have remained the same since before COVID.
Ridership and service levels drop significantly on weekends. Weekday boardings are almost twice as high as those generated on weekends, with weekends offering lower frequencies and shorter service spans. Improving weekend service will enhance the usability of BBB service for a wider variety of trip purposes.
A significant portion of Big Blue Bus’s ridership is concentrated on its highest ridership routes. Routes 7-Pico Blvd, 1-Main St & Santa Monica Blvd, and 3-Lincoln Blvd have the highest ridership in the Big Blue Bus network and collectively account for 47% of system ridership. Adding in the Rapid 3 and Rapid 7 overlays and accounting for transfers, these three main corridors carry more than half of all BBB riders on a daily basis. Ensuring these corridors operate frequently – at least every 10 minutes – will have resounding impacts on the entire network by simplifying transfers and providing more trip flexibility.
Figure 4: RIDERSHIP BY ROUT E 2019 VS. 2023
Ridership is spread across the Big Blue Bus service area with major destinations being downtown Santa Monica, UCLA and LA Metro stations. Combined, LA Metro rail transfers and UCLA/Westwood represent about one-quarter of all daily boarding activity. Other major boarding locations include LAX, Santa Monica College, Overland/Venice and Pico/ Rimpau. Compared to 2019, ridership has declined most significantly around the Santa Monica College campuses since the school continues to offer many classes online.
6 WEEKDAY AVERAGE RIDERSHIP
SANTA MONICA - BIG BLUE BUS NETWORK
Weekday Ridership
Ons
1 10
50 100
1,000
BigBlueBusRou
BigBlueBus1
Big Blue Bus Routes
City of Santa Monica
Service Area Boundary
0 1 2 Miles
Figure 5: AV ER AGE WEEKDAY RIDERSHIP 2019 VS. 2023
7 Frequency is the number one factor that attracts new riders to transit.
Overall frequencies are worse in 2023 than they were in 2019. Service reductions in the face of lowered ridership demand following the pandemic was the cause of reduced service levels. When restoring service, it is important to understand which corridors warrant returning to pre-pandemic frequencies or better.
Big Blue Bus is not meeting its standards for service reliability. Big Blue Bus has a system-wide goal of 85% on-time performance, in-line with common industry standards. On weekdays, no routes meet the on-time performance standard. Weekday trips are 67% on time, 10% early and 23% late across all timepoints. Low on-time performance is likely due to the fact that Big Blue Bus is still using the scheduled speeds from the pandemic and has not yet reverted back to pre-pandemic speeds. Since traffic congestion has increased, many trips are not able to travel as quickly as they once could.
Travel time benefits on Rapid routes may not outweigh the impacts of lower frequency levels. Rapid routes do not provide substantially faster end-to-end travel times compared to their local counterparts. At most, endto-end travel times are ten minutes shorter on the Rapid compared to the Local, but few customers are traveling the entire length of the route and see a smaller travel time savings benefit. Ridership patterns show that rather than waiting for the Rapid bus, most customers at shared stops just get on the first trip that shows up. Given the strong preference for additional frequency, combining Rapid and Local routes into one service that operates every 7.5 to 10 minutes rather than every 14 or 20 minutes will provide an improved customer experience.
8 Community Outreach – Phase I
In January 2024, the Brighter Blue team held a round of community outreach efforts to collect feedback on the public’s preferences in transit service design.
The project team collected over 400 surveys and comments from riders and non-riders through virtual and in-person public workshops and focus groups.
A full summary of the outreach events and comments received can be found in Appendix B.
Community workshops were hosted both virtually and in-person in March 2024.
The workshop included a presentation of the ridership survey’s key takeaways, service design trade-offs, as well as participation through Mentimeter survey responses. In addition to and upon completion of the presentation, the workshop included activities such as giving participants the opportunity to write-in likes and dislikes of BBB services, a map overview and suggestions to BBB routes, and a Big Blue Bucks game where the public “paid” for their favored design trade-offs by investing up to ten Blue Bucks into various categories. Results of the activity were relatively split, but it did show that riders prioritize more frequent service on weekdays and shorter travel times.
14.9%
7.4%
5.7%
1.3% - Other: amenities, cleanliness
20.1%
18.7%
16.3%
15.6%
MON - FRI
SAT - SUN
MORE FREQUENT
SERVICE ON WEEKDAYS
[Shorter Waits]
SHORTER TRAVEL TIMES
[FASTER SPEEDS,
DEDICATED LANES, ETC.]
Faster Speeds but Stops
Spaced Further Apart
LONGER HOURS
[EARLIER/LATER IN THE DAY]
More Service in Early
Mornings and Late Evenings
SAFETY & SECURITY
Enhanced Security at Stops
and On the Bus
ROUTES TO NEW PLACES
More Areas Served
INTRODUCTION OF
NEW ON-DEMAND
SHARED-RIDE SERVICES
MORE FREQUENT
SERVICE ON WEEKENDS
[Shorter Waits]
Figure 6: RE SULTS FROM "BIG BLUE BUCKS" RE SOURCE ALLOCATION GAME 9 Guiding Principles and
Framework
The Brighter Blue Final Service Plan was designed around the following guiding principles which informed the development of the individual route recommendations.
Develop a plan that grows Big Blue Bus back to prepandemic ridership and service levels. At the start of this project, Big Blue Bus was carrying 65% of pre-pandemic ridership and providing 70% of pre-pandemic service levels.
The goal of the Brighter Blue COA is to propose a five-year plan that will increase service back to the level of revenue hours Big Blue Bus was offering before the pandemic in 2019. While the total amount of annual service is the same, the hours are redistributed among the Big Blue Bus routes to reflect current travel patterns and mobility needs. By redistributing resources to better align with current needs, the goal is to attract new and old riders to the Big Blue Bus system, growing ridership back to or above pre-pandemic levels.
Build a network of high-frequency routes that allow
for lifestyle transit use. Frequency of service is the number one factor that brings riders to transit, and it received the lowest satisfaction score (3.5 out of 5.0) among Big Blue Bus riders. Most transportation modes’ (such as walking, biking, and driving) trip times are completely at the discretion of the traveler. With transit, riders have to depend on the published schedule and can only travel at specific times. Even with real-time arrival information becoming more commonplace, riders still do not have the completely freedom to travel precisely when they want to. Increasing transit’s frequency makes it more convenient, reducing wait times, and providing flexibility in when people can travel. This is particularly important in areas like Santa Monica and West Los Angeles where destinations are often within walking or biking distance, making such options more competitive to transit, as almost no one would want to wait 30 minutes for the bus to go to a destination that is a 20-minute walk away. The Final Service Plan creates a network of routes operating every 10 minutes on weekdays, serving approximately 70% of current Big Blue Bus riders.
Expand service hours to allow for all-day travel. The
Big Blue Bus network has traditionally been focused around the traditional work and school commute, with many routes ending by 9:00 pm. Many of the comments received in
community focus groups and survey responses focused on
the fact that shorter service hours limited riders’ ability to use the network for different trip purposes, primarily evening socializing and recreation. The Final Plan proposes extending service hours earlier in the morning on 7 weekday routes and 6 weekend routes and extending service hours later in the evening on 13 weekday routes and 10 weekend routes.
Create opportunities by introducing weekend service
on weekday-only routes. Similar to the limitations
presented by a short service span, Big Blue Bus riders
also want to be able to use the bus for any trip purpose throughout the week. Operating weekday-only service on
certain routes limits the usability of those routes. Those who work on weekends must find alternative modes of travel for Saturdays and Sundays, and chances are if they have to buy a car for one or two days a week, they will use it to commute on the other days as well. The Final Plan proposes expanding Saturday service by 11% and Sunday service by 20% compared to pre-pandemic levels. It also introduces new weekend service on Routes 5, 16, and 41.
Ensure convenient, frequent, direct access to current
and future Metro Rail stations on the C Line, D Line,
E Line, K Line, and future LAX People Mover. LA Metro
is building significant new rail projects opening within the next few years that will transform public mobility options in and around West Los Angeles. Significant rail restructuring around LAX will bring light rail to the airport and create a new regional mobility hub. The extension of the D Line to Westwood and the VA Hospital will introduce a new subway connecting Westwood to Downtown Los Angeles in less than 30 minutes. It is important for Big Blue Bus to provide convenient and frequent connections into these new mobility centers, which will greatly expand regional transportation access for riders. The Final Plan deviates multiple routes to provide direct connections to rail stations and ensures that buses serve the termini of rail lines at LAX and in Westwood at least every 10 minutes. 10 Network Recommendations
Based on these guiding principles, Big Blue Bus developed a Brighter Blue Final Service Plan, summarized on the following pages. Details on specific route changes can be found in Appendix C.
Frequency Improvements
The Final Plan improves weekday frequencies for almost every route in the Big Blue Bus system in an effort to make taking transit more convenient for riders.
The Plan creates a network of high-frequency service, providing service every 10 minutes or better on Santa Monica Blvd (Route 1), Wilshire Blvd (Route 2), Lincoln Blvd (Route 3), Pico Blvd (Route 7/Rapid 7), and Westwood Blvd (Rapid 12). Collectively, these routes are used by 70% of weekday riders. An additional three routes (Route 14, Route 17, and Route 41) are proposed to see frequency increases from 20 to 15 minutes so that 84% of all current Big Blue Bus riders will have 15-minute or better service. Finally, the Plan improves frequency on low-frequency routes, ensuring that no all-day route operates less often than every 30 minutes. This involved improving frequencies from every 50-60 minutes to 30 minutes on
Routes 5 and 15.
Weekends saw modest improvements in frequencies,
adding Rapid 12 to the 15-minute network such that
70% of weekend riders have 15-minute service (Routes
1, 3, 7, and R12). Routes 5, 16, and 41 are proposed to have new all-day 30-minute service on weekends, greatly expanding travel opportunities for residents throughout the week.
Figure 7: E XISTING AND PROPOSED FREQUENCIE S BY ROUT E Route Weekday Weekend
Existing Proposed Existing Proposed
Route 1 10 10 15 15
Route 2 20 10 20 20
Route 3 13 10 15 15
Rapid 3 60 - - -
Route 5 60 30 - 30
Route 7 14 7.5/10 15 15
Rapid 7 15 - - -
Route 8 24 20 27 20
Route 9 15/30 15/30 40 30
Rapid 10 60 60 - -
Rapid 12 12 10 21 15
Route 14 20 15 30 30
Route 15 50 30 - -
Route 16 27 30 - 30
Route 17 20 15 30 30
Route 18 30 20 30 30
Route 41 20 15 - 20
Route 42 - - - -
Route 43 30 30 - -
Route 44 - 20 - -
11 Figure 8: E XISTING WEEKDAY FREQUENCY BY ROUT E
Figure 10: E XISTING WEEKEND FREQUENCY BY ROUT E
Figure 9: PROPOSED WEEKDAY FREQUENCY BY ROUT E
Figure 11: PROPOSED WEEKEND FREQUENCY BY ROUT E
12 Weekday Span Improvements
Figure 12 shows proposed span improvements by route, with blue showing new hours of service span and gray showing existing. All but two routes will see some span improvement, ranging from one to five hours. Most routes saw an early span improvement of starting service at the 5 am hour. Early morning service is especially important to provide in the Los Angeles region, where many people have multi-hour commutes or where people try to have varied work start times to avoid rush hour traffic.
In the evenings, most routes were extended to at least have their last trip depart after 10 pm. Many of the comments received from college/university students were that the bus schedules do not allow them to travel home after their late evening classes. Other commented that early end times at 7 pm prevented them from using the bus to socialize or dine in Downtown Santa Monica and/or use the bus to return home.
Figure 12: PROPOSED SERV ICE SPAN BY ROUT E - WEEKDAY
13 Weekend Span Improvements
Almost every bus route received some span improvement on the weekends.
All routes operating on the weekend are proposed to start by 6 am with a few higher ridership routes starting at 5 am. In the evenings, most routes are proposed to extend until 10 pm with a few core routes ending at 11 pm. New all-day weekend service is proposed for Routes 5, 16, and 41, providing new weekend access to shopping and recreational destinations.
Figure 13: PROPOSED SERV ICE SPAN BY ROUT E - WEEKEND
14 Rail Connection Improvements
The Brighter Blue Plan focuses on providing convenient, frequent, direct connections to future Metro Rail stations.
K Line Extension to LAX
The LA Metro K Line is being extended to LAX, with an anticipated opening in late 2024. The new LAX/Metro Transit Center will form a new regional mobility center. When this happens, Route 3 will terminate at the LAX/Metro Transit Center, discontinuing service to Aviation/LAX Station and the C Line. Eventually, the C Line and K Line will connect at LAX/Metro Transit Center, but until that happens, LA Metro operates a bus bridge for riders needing to transfer. The shorter Route 3 alignment will allow the route to operate more frequently, and weekday frequencies will improve to every 10 minutes. With 10-minute service from Downtown Santa Monica to LAX on Route 3, Route 14 is being proposed to pull back service to Playa Vista from Inglewood.
D Line Extension to Century City/Constellation Station
The LA Metro D Line is being extended to Westwood, opening in multiple phases. Section 2 to Century City/Constellation Station is scheduled to open in 2026. With this opening, Big Blue Bus should implement the proposed changes to Route 5 – Olympic which doubles service levels on the route from 60 to 30 minutes and adds service on the weekends.
D Line Extension to Westwood/VA Hospital
The subway extension into Westwood, anticipated 2027, will be transformative for mobility in West Los Angeles. Residents will have access to a subway with five-minute headways that provides a trip from Downtown Los Angeles to Westwood in 25 minutes. There will be two new stations on this segment, one at Westwood/UCLA (Wilshire Blvd/Gayley Ave) and one at the VA Hospital on Wilshire Blvd just west of the 405. The Westwood/UCLA station will be served by all routes operating through Westwood – Routes 1, 2, 8, Rapid 12, 17, and 18. No special deviations are necessary given the density and walkability of the area.
Serving the western terminus at the Westwood/VA Hospital Station will require more significant route restructuring. The station is located away from existing development with limited access points. Additionally, since it is not anticipated that BBB will be able to lay over at the station, a remote layover location is required. Figure 14 shows the proposed routing for BBB routes to serve the station.
■ Routes 2 and 18 will use the existing aerial stops on Wilshire Blvd on their way into Westwood.
■ Route 17 currently bypasses the future station site and will keep its current routing.
■ Route 15 will deviate from its operation on Barrington Ave to follow a similar alignment as Route 17 to directly service the station mid-route. ■ Routes 14 and 16 will be extended to have a new terminus that serves the station, creating a strong anchor point at the end of the route.
These routes will approach the station eastbound on Wilshire Blvd and use a new stop on Bonsall Ave under Wilshire Blvd to let passengers off at the station. Buses will then proceed to a remote layover location at Bringham Ave & Gorham Ave, very close to Route 14’s current layover location. After laying over, buses will circle back to the station to board westbound/southbound passengers before resuming service on Wilshire Blvd. The remote layover site is sufficient but not ideal. Big Blue Bus should continue to work with LA Metro and the City of Los Angeles to identify a more permanent layover location closer to the station. 14 16
14 16
14 16
15 15
17 2
2 18
18 Future D Line
Westwood / VA
Hospital Station
14 16
15 17
18 2
Stop
New stop
Granville Ave
S Barrington Ave
Pershing Ave
Eisenhower Ave
Gorham Ave
Bringham Ave
MacArthur Ave
Gorham Pl
S Barrington Ave
Barry Ave
Goshen Ave
Mayfield Ave
Darlington Ave
Kiowa Ave
Eisenhower Ave
Bonsall Ave
Grant Ave
Hadley Ct
Federal Ave
Dowlen Dr
San Vicente Blvd
Wilshire Blvd
Wilshire Blvd
San Vicente Blvd
Barber Shop
Freedom
Figure 14: PROPOSED ROUTING TO SERV E FUTURE LA ME TRO D LINE WE STWOOD/
VA HOSPITAL
15 UCLA Campus Improvements
The Final Plan proposes multiple changes to the Big Blue Bus routes that serve the UCLA campus. Over 12% of all daily boardings on the BBB system take place on the UCLA campus or in Westwood across six different routes. The routes currently end at three different places: UCLA Gateway Plaza (R12, 18), Hilgard Terminal (1, 2, 8), and Macgowan Hall (17).
UCLA Gateway Plaza is the optimal location for Big Blus Bus routes to terminate, getting riders into the heart of campus with minimal travel time.
However, layover space is limited due to competition for space from multiple transportation providers. To enhance system usability, the Plan terminates both Route 8 and Rapid 12 at this hub so that all Westwood Blvd-based services will end at the same location. This means that between the two routes, riders traveling between UCLA and National Blvd will have access to nine trips an hour and can use any bus departing the terminal. This link also provides a direct connection between the Metro E Line at Westwood/Rancho Park Station and the future D Line Westwood/UCLA Station.
Hilgard Terminal offers a good layover location with amenities for operators and passengers and sufficient space for multiple buses. On the other hand, it is not conveniently located for campus destinations, and most passengers use the stop at Westholme Ave & Hilgard Ave which provides direct access into campus. It is also not available to be used after 8:00 pm on weekdays or any time on weekends due to limitations placed by the surrounding residential community. On evenings and weekends, Big Blue Bus lays over at curb space on Charles E. Young Dr. East outside of Parking Structure 2. Under the proposed plan, this would become the permanent layover location, discontinuing use of Hilgard Terminal. This provides the dual benefit of getting riders closer to most of their on-campus destinations and allowing Big Blue Bus to operate the same trip pattern throughout the day, reducing complexity within the system.
Parking Structure 2 is equipped with restrooms for operator use, and the stops are shaded with seating. Under the proposed plan, Routes 1, 2, and 18 would terminate at the new Parking Structure 2 hub.
Macgowan Hall will continue to serve as a layover location for Route 17.
Plan Impacts
While the Final Plan represents an increase in service systemwide, service was reduced in some low-performing areas, and it is important to understand how many riders may be impacted by the plan. The map in Figure XX shows the stop locations outside a quarter-mile walk of a proposed stop location. Overall, this includes 32 bus stops with 650 average daily boardings. However, 524 of these boardings take place at the Aviation/LAX Station serving the C Line, and most riders will be able to maintain their current connections/transfers.
In late 2024, the Metro K Line is being extended to the Aviation/LAX Station, connecting the K and C Lines, and Big Blue Bus Route 3 will be restructured to terminate at the new LAX/Metro Transit Center which will serve as a major transfer point between bus and rail routes across multiple systems. Many riders previously transferring to other bus routes at Aviation/LAX Station will be able to complete this transfer at the new Transit Center. Those riders destined for the C Line can still access Aviation/LAX Station by transferring to the K Line.
Excluding the Aviation/LAX Station stop, there are an additional 126 riders who board at 31 stops that are no longer within a quarter mile walk of fixed-route bus service, representing 0.5% of systemwide ridership. Fifty of these riders are within a half mile walk of proposed service. The remaining riders are on low-performing route segments outside of the City of Santa Monica.
Figure 15: PROPOSED ROUT E ALIGNMENTS AT THE UCLA CAMPUS 16 Figure 16: STOP LOCATIONS OV ER A QUART ER-MILE WALK FROM PROPOSED STOPS 17 Title VI Analysis
The Federal Transit Administration Title VI Circular, C 4702. 1B requires transit agencies to review proposed service changes to ensure they do not place a disproportionate burden on low-income populations or a disparate impact on minority populations. Big Blue Bus defines a “major service change” as:
“Changes to existing routes that result in an increase or decrease in route revenue miles or route miles that are equal to or greater than twenty-five percent (25%) of the existing service, as happening one-time or cumulatively throughout the year. A major service change also includes the introduction of a new route and the elimination of an existing route.”
A disparate impact or disproportionate burden occurs when the impact to disadvantaged populations is fifteen percent (15%) higher than the impact to non-disadvantaged populations.
The 2022 Title VI Program from Big Blue Bus identified the following routes serving minority and low-income populations above the service area average:
Route 7, Rapid 7, Express 7, and Rapid 10. This analysis compares the Brighter Blue COA recommendations to 2019 service levels.
Because the Brighter Blue COA is a systemwide restructuring effort that affects the entire network, it is important to view the impacts at the network level. Overall, the proposed plan increases weekday revenue miles on nonminority non-low-income routes by 7.8% and decreases weekday revenue miles on minority and low-income routes by 22.1%, a 29.9% difference which is greater than the 15.0% threshold for determining a disparate impact or disproportionate burden. However, there are a few factors that mitigate this impact.
■ Service on Rapid 10 is not proposed to be restored to pre-pandemic levels due to shifts in commuting patterns. Metro Rail service on the E Line provides an alternative to Rapid 10, connecting Downtown Santa Monica to Downtown Los Angeles every 10 minutes throughout the day. When the D Line opens to Westwood, it will also provide frequent all-day service between Westwood and Downtown Los Angeles.
■ Service on Pico Blvd (Route 7 and Rapid 7) is proposed to decrease slightly from 2019 levels, but it is still proposed to have the highest frequency of any corridor in the system, offering 7.5-min service during peak periods.
The proposal to combine Route 7 and Rapid 7 will also greatly enhance the frequency of service for those people boarding at local stops who do not currently have the option to take the Rapid. Furthermore, the 2023 on-board survey found that 64% of riders on Pico Blvd transfer to another route, so building up the frequencies and spans of connecting routes is critical to helping Pico Blvd passengers complete their trip. ■ The proposed plan focuses on creating usable frequencies on all Big Blue Bus routes, building a network of 10-minute services and ensuring no route operates less frequently than every 30 minutes. Elevating routes to higher frequency standards requires significant investment. The Pico Blvd corridor already sustains this level of service, and passenger load and performance data do not indicate that it would benefit much from increased frequencies.
18 Weekday Service Changes by Route 2019 vs. 2023
Route
Minority /
Low-Income
Route?
Existing Revenue
Miles (2019)
Proposed
Revenue Miles
Percent Change
Revenue Miles
Existing Route
Miles (2019)
Proposed
Route Miles
Percent Change
Route Miles
1 No 1,632.38 1,566.57 -4.03% 17.60 17.31 -1.65%
2 No 764.75 1,105.00 44.49% 12.87 13.00 1.01%
3 No 1,761.90 1,955.40 10.98% 23.21 20.70 -10.81%
R3 No 542.58 -100.00% 22.64 -100.00%
5 No 604.83 444.72 -26.47% 21.24 13.60 -35.97%
7 Yes 2,095.34 2,896.11 38.22% 26.50 26.33 -0.64%
R7 Yes 1,546.26 -100.00% 28.17 -100.00%
8 No 1,031.65 961.00 -6.85% 20.15 19.22 -4.62%
9 No 533.09 490.56 -7.98% 13.44 15.33 14.06%
R10 Yes 215.62 107.40 -50.19% 35.94 35.80 0.00%
R12 No 840.63 842.61 0.24% 9.64 9.31 -3.45%
14 No 882.08 1,134.60 28.63% 15.63 18.60 19.00%
15 No 227.35 271.62 19.47% 7.34 10.06 37.06%
16 No 423.07 843.20 99.31% 15.68 27.20 73.47%
17 No 715.63 1,062.05 48.41% 16.83 18.00 6.95%
18 No 804.23 1,062.10 32.06% 22.84 24.70 8.14%
41 No 232.32 370.14 59.32% 5.96 5.97 0.17%
42 No 232.32 -100.00% 5.96 -100.00%
43 No 178.53 262.80 47.20% 9.88 10.95 10.83%
44 No 371.36 330.05 -11.12% 7.66 9.43 23.11%
Minority /
Low-Income Total 3,857.21 3,003.51 -22.13% 90.61 62.27 -31.28% Non-Minority /
Low-Income Total 11,778.72 12,702.42 7.84% 248.57 233.38 -6.11% Total 15,635.93 15,705.93 0.45% 339.18 295.65 -12.83%
Figure 17: TITLE V I ANALYSIS OF PROPOSED SERV ICE PLAN 19 Implementation Plan
The Brighter Blue Final Plan proposes increasing service back to pre-pandemic levels of 530,000 annual revenue hours, a 20% increase over current operations.
Implementing these changes requires hiring additional bus operators, installing or removing bus stops and bus stop signage, and paying for additional costs incurred by running more service. For these reasons, the plan is phased to implemented over a multi-year period with service changes occurring in August 2025, August 2026, August 2027, and in conjunction with the opening of major construction projects. Some changes are not interrelated with other changes and can occur at any time, primarily span improvements or alignment changes that do not affect other routes. The following changes are proposed for each service change.
K Line Opens to LAX
Currently, the opening of the K Line to LAX is scheduled for the end of 2024.
When this happens, Big Blue Bus should make the following service changes rather than waiting until the August 2025 change:
■ Restructure Route 3 to end at the new LAX/Metro Transit Center. ■ Consolidate Rapid 3 trips into Route 3.
■ Provide 10-minute weekday service on Route 3.
■ Restructure Route 14 to end in Playa Vista at Jefferson Blvd and Bluff Creek Dr. The route should be extended to the Culver City Transit Center once an agreement has been made with the City of Culver City. ■ Improve weekday frequency on Route 14 from 20 to 15 minutes.
August 2025
This phase focuses on changes to routes serving the Santa Monica College campuses.
■ Route 5 – shorten alignment to operate between SMC Main Campus and Century City, improve weekday service to every 30 minutes, and introduce 30-minute weekend service.
■ Route 7 – improve weekday frequency to 7.5 min peak/10 min midday. ■ Rapid 7 – consolidate Rapid 7 trips into more frequent Route 7 service. ■ Route 41 – restructure alignment and introduce weekend service. ■ Route 43 – extend route to San Vicente & 7th St, and add midday service.
■ Route 44 – restore service using proposed alignment.
August 2026
This phase focuses on changes to routes serving the UCLA campus. ■ Routes 1, 2, 18 – new UCLA terminus at Parking Structure 2 and new routing through Westwood.
■ Route 8 – new UCLA terminus at UCLA Gateway Plaza and improve all-week frequency.
■ Rapid 12 – improve all-week frequency.
■ Routes 17, 18 – improve weekday frequency.
August 2027
This phase focuses on changes required to integrate with the Metro D Line extension to Westwood.
■ Route 2 – increase weekday frequency.
■ Route 14 – extend northern terminus to the Metro D Line Westwood/VA Hospital Station.
■ Route 15 – deviate to Metro D Line Westwood/VA Hospital Station and increase weekday service to every 30 minutes.
■ Route 16 – extend northern terminus to the Metro D Line Westwood/VA Hospital Station and add 30-minute weekend service.
20 Community Outreach – Phase II
In April 2024, Big Blue Bus presented the Draft Service Plan to the public.
The project team launched a website that detailed the changes within the plan, hosted two community meetings, and distributed information through a variety of channels. In total, the project team collected 339 responses on the draft plan. Survey respondents had the following characteristics:
If the plan were implemented, 44% said they would ride Big Blue Bus more often, and 40% said they would ride the same amount. The remaining respondents said they would ride less often (9.2%) or would not use the services (6.5%).
When asked to rank improvements in the plan in order from most to least important, over half of the respondents (55%) said that investing in highfrequency 10 minute or better service on key corridors was the most important improvement. This was followed by extending service hours earlier in the morning/later in the evening at 25%, adding weekend service to weekdayonly routes 11%, and restructuring route alignments to connect with future Metro Rail station least important with 9% ranking it most important. This is consistent with findings from the initial round of community outreach in which the majority of comments reflected requests for additional frequency.
The survey asked respondents to rate whether they agreed or disagreed with 23 specific changes included in the draft plan. The elements with the highest percentage of respondents saying they “strongly agree” with the change included:
■ Connecting Route 3 to the future LAX/Metro Transit Center (62.8%) ■ Extending evening hours on Routes 1, 2, and 17 (54.7%) ■ Extending Route 9 to Pacific Coast Hwy (39.2%)
■ Combining Route 3 and Rapid 3 into one route with more frequent service (39.1%)
■ Increasing frequency on Rapid 12 (38.6%)
■ Extending Route 16 to serve the future Metro Rail D Line Station (38.2%) The elements with the highest percentage of respondents saying they “strongly disagree” with the change included:
■ Shortening Route 5 to operate between 17th/SMC Station and Century City (14.9%).
■ Combining Route 3 and Rapid 3 into one route with more frequent service (11.1%). However, 39.1% of respondents strongly agreed with this change.
■ Ending Route 8 at UCLA Gateway Plaza rather than Hilgard Terminal (8.3%). However, 24.5% of respondents strongly agreed with this change.
■ Ending Route 14 at Westfield Culver City instead of the Westchester/ Veterans K Line Station (8.1%). However, 22.3% of respondents strongly agreed with this change.
■ Moving Route 8 from Ocean Ave to Main St (7.3%). However, 26.7% of respondents strongly agreed with this change.
Figure 18: PICTURE FROM IN-PERSON PUBLIC HE ARING IN APRIL 2024 21 Changes from the Draft to Final Service Plan
Based on the feedback received through the second phase of community outreach, field tests driving the proposed route alignments, and general staff feedback, the project team made a few changes to the Final Plan:
■ Routes 2, 17, 18 – adjusting Westwood routing to serve southbound Westwood/Weyburn stop.
■ Route 5 – extended route to Pico Blvd to serve the SMC Main Campus via the Pico Blvd & 17th St stop.
■ Route 14 – restored service on Bluff Creek Dr rather than operating directly on Jefferson Blvd to access the Culver City Transit Center. ■ Route 41 – adjusted routing to avoid left turn from Pico Blvd on to 17th St. New alignment follows 14th St and 20th St, merging onto 17th St between Colorado Blvd and Olympic Blvd to serve the Metro 17th St/ SMC E Line Station.
■ Route 43 – restored service to Metro 17th/SMC E Line Station and SMC Main Campus rather than terminating at the Metro 26th St/Bergamot E Line Station.
■ Route 44 – adjusted routing to avoid left turn from Pico Blvd on to 17th St. New alignment follows 14th St and 20th St, creating a figure eight on Pico Blvd to directly serve the SMC Main Campus at Pico Blvd & 17th St.
Since many of these changes required adding resources to routes, developing the Final Plan also required scaling back some service levels proposed in the Draft Plan to stay within Big Blue Bus’s target range for annual revenue hours.
These changes included:
■ Offering 10-minute rather than 7.5-minute weekday peak-period service on Rapid 12.
■ Offering 30-minute rather than 20-minute weekend service on Route 14. ■ Offering 30-minute rather than 20-minute weekday service on Route 43. ■ Not introducing weekend service on Route 15.
■ Limiting the service span increases of Routes 41 and 44. 22 Corridors for Improving
Transit Speed & Reliability
Methodology and Approach
Understanding how particular areas of a route impact the speed and reliability of an entire service was an important first step in this analysis. Improving these “hot spots” would provide the biggest returns on improvement investment regarding rider satisfaction and operational efficiencies.
The speed and reliability analysis focused on key corridors where route headways were better than 20 minutes and ridership is highest. Examples of these corridors include service along Santa Monica Boulevard, Lincoln Boulevard, and Pico Boulevard. Secondary corridors or routes along streets such as Sawtelle Boulevard and Montana Avenue were also considered, but not further analyzed based on generally lower congestion/reliability issues and often more constraints on minor streets in offering a design or traffic operations-related solution. Key corridors were also aligned with segments from City staff priorities from prior consideration between 2019 and today.
Key transit corridors were analyzed using Swiftly, a transit management software that imports live GPS data from transit vehicles. Swiftly data can be used to view average vehicle speeds between bus stops (Figure 19) and how transit vehicles are performing over an analysis period compared to scheduled stop times. October 2023 peak-hour median speeds between bus stops were used to identify specific congested locations where spot-improvements may improve overall transit speed.
Corridor Scoring
Prioritizing corridors involved bringing together a collection of the parameters listed below related to level of impact and feasibility to rank corridor improvements for implementation to pursue the lower-hanging fruit that has a higher likelihood of noticeable operational or customer experience improvements.
Figure 19: AN E XAMPLE OF MEDI AN SPEED OUTPUT WITHIN SWIFTLY 23 ■ Operational Factors: route-level on time performance, average speed, and travel time variation between the fastest and shortest observed trip from Swiftly data. A formula combined these factors to increase the score of routes with low speeds, substantial travel time variation, and poor on time performance.
■ Infrastructure Feasibility: if improvements such as transit-only lanes could fit within the existing right-of-way received the highest score in this category. Corridors that would require additional investment beyond signing and striping received a lower score, and those constrained by curb-to-curb width received the lowest score.
■ Political Feasibility: routes and corridors that have planned or ongoing project work were scored the highest. Transit-Enhanced Corridors in the City of Los Angeles Mobility Plan 2035 were also considered and scored higher than corridors where no bus transit improvements are planned or proposed.
Finally, ridership was considered after corridors were scored as a potential tiebreaker to ensure that proposed improvements would be available for a higher percentage of riders.
Existing Projects Overview
Some of the corridors that scored the highest in terms of implementation include those with existing projects currently in the planning and design phase.
This result reinforces the need to advance these projects, which include:
■ The Caltrans project to stripe shared bus/bike lanes on Santa Monica Boulevard between Wellesley Avenue and Sawtelle Boulevard (Route 1 and Metro Line 4)
■ The LADOT project to stripe bus lanes on Lincoln Boulevard between Rose Avenue and Venice Boulevard (Route 3)
■ The LADOT project to restore bus lanes on Wilshire Boulevard between Barrington Avenue and Westwood Boulevard after the conclusion of construction on the Metro D Line Extension to Westwood (Routes 2, 18 and Metro Line 720)
Description of Proposed Improvements
Outside of existing planned projects, a number of Big Blue Bus corridors scored highly both within the City of Los Angeles and Santa Monica for implementation of infrastructure to support enhanced transit speed and reliability. Generally, proposed recommendations fall into one of the three categories described below.
■ Peak-hour bus lanes generally involve the conversion of a peak-hour general travel lane to a transit-only lane. The lane generally remains open to vehicle parking outside of peak times. Peak-hour travel lanes are useful by allowing buses to circumvent traffic queueing at signals, as well as reduce delay when pulling out from a transit stop.
■ Transit queue jumps include a short section of bus-only lane to allow the bus to bypass traffic waiting at a signal. A dedicated signal head (Figure 20) then allows the bus to proceed a few seconds before a green signal indication, giving the bus a head start over general travel.
Note that the transit queue jump indication can be implemented at the same time as a leading pedestrian interval (LPI), providing transit benefit without affecting the overall signal cycle length or exiting green time.
Figure 20: TR ANSIT SIGNAL HE AD THAT CAN BE INSTALLED AT E XISTING SIGNAL S
ALONGSIDE QUEUE JUMP
24 ■ Stop relocation from near-side to far-side stops is generally preferable from a speed and reliability perspective. Far-side stops, located past the intersection as opposed to before the intersection, reduce conflicts between buses and right-turning vehicles, which can be particularly acute at areas near freeway on-ramps. Far-side stops also allow for easier implementation of transit-signal priority (TSP) technology. *Pico/Rimpau Transit Center improvements consist of adding dedicated signals to allow westbound buses to leave the transit center onto San Vicente Boulevard coordinated with a left turn signal onto Pico and are not a standardized signalized queue jump.
City of Santa Monica
Four additional corridors located within the City of Santa Monica were analyzed by the project team. With the exception of Downtown Santa Monica, these corridors generally scored lower than the others listed above due to narrower available right-of-way, constraints from active transportation improvements, and/or better transit operations than other portions of the Big Blue Bus network. However, given that these corridors are located within the City of Santa Monica, staff have a higher degree of control in implementation.
Improvements within Downtown Santa Monica are considered the highest priority within the City. Eight routes in the new service plan will pass through or terminate in Downtown, alongside services operated by Metro. Increasing the reliability at the start and end of routes is imperative to robust operations along corridors radiating from Downtown.
Downtown Santa Monica improvements are complicated by vehicle congestion and intense pedestrian activity, particularly in the summer months. In addition, due to Santa Monica’s integrated multimodal and complete streets approach, various improvements to pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure have been constructed which constrain right-of-way for transit use. Staff will continue to develop solutions that balance these needs and work towards implementing focused transit improvements within the Downtown core.
The remaining lower-priority corridors within the City of Santa Monica are listed in the table below. Generally, right-of-way widths are too constrained for queue jumps and peak-hour bus lanes, so improvements will likely be limited to stop relocations or other targeted upgrades.
More information on the specific nature of these improvements, including planning-level cross sections of many segments, can be found in Appendix D.
Corridor Name/Details: Prioritization
Score (out of 4) Proposed Improvements
Pico Boulevard between
Centinela Avenue and
Sepulveda Boulevard
(Route 7)
3.9 Santa Monica Boulevard
between Sawtelle
Boulevard and Westwood
Boulevard
3.9 Pico Boulevard between
Avenue of the Stars and
Crenshaw Boulevard
(Route 7)
3.4 Pico Rimpau Transit
Center* at Pico and San
Vicente
3.4 Bundy Drive between Pico
Boulevard and Wilshire
Boulevard
2.4 Lincoln Boulevard between
Venice Boulevard and
Mindanao Way
2.2 Figure 21: PROPOSED IMPROV EMENTS FOR PRIORITY TR ANSIT CORRIDORS Corridor Improvements Key:
Peak-hour
bus lanes
Transit
queue jump
Stop
relocations
Figure 22: PROPOSED IMPROV EMENTS FOR CORRIDORS WITHIN THE CIT Y OF
SANTA MONICA
Corridor Name/Details: Prioritization Score (out of 4)
Pico Boulevard between 16th Street
and Centinela Avenue 2.8
Ocean Park Boulevard between 25th
Street and Bundy Drive 2.2
Bundy Drive between Ocean Park
Boulevard and Pico Boulevard 1.5
25 Conclusion
The Brighter Blue COA represents an opportunity to adapt the Big Blue Bus network to changing conditions in and around Santa Monica and West Los Angeles. While travel patterns may have changed post-pandemic, the fundamentals of high-quality transit service remain the same. Service needs to be fast, frequent, and reliable in order to serve as an effective transportation mode. Investing in a core group of high-frequency corridors will create a strong foundation for the overall network, making service more convenient, reducing transfer wait times, and offering more flexibility. Expanded service span in the morning and evenings and adding weekend service to select routes will increase the usability of transit for more trip purposes. Big Blue Bus integration with new light rail and subway connections will present new opportunities for growing ridership and enhancing regional mobility. The Brighter Blue Plan provides a blueprint for adjusting and growing service over the next few years to respond to current and planned conditions. As the plan is implemented, Big Blue Bus should regularly monitor and revisit the recommendations to ensure they remain in line with regional demand.