By Joanne Gamlin
Applause belongs to the Big Blue Bus for the job it is doing during the MTA strike. On weekdays after 3:30 p.m., large crowds gather to wait on Pico Boulevard for the Big Blue Bus No. 7 or Super 7. The bus agency probably had to put more buses on this route which represents one of the few ways persons who live in central LA can reach home — or, at least, get closer to home.
Likewise, the freeway express No. 10 has experienced heavier loads of passengers, some of whom, no doubt, have to call friends or relatives to ferry them back to Hollywood or mid Wilshire.
The transit strike also has packed weekday, early morning Big Blue Buses 1 and 2. By 9 a.m., the Wilshire bus if often stuffed tighter than a can of sardines. If it were not for the yoe-man work by the city’s Big Blue Bus, the transit strike, as bad as it is, would be much worse.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on October 28, 2003. Read the original PDF.