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# Big Blue Bus to get $4 million makeover
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/big-blue-bus-to-get-4-million-makeover/
- Published: 2004-07-13T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T04:43:26.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Government & Politics, Santa Monica, #archive-import

*$6.4M to be spent on buses, land use and D.C. lobbyists BIG BLUE COMES OUT LOOKING LIKE NEW*

*By Daily Press staff*

(Editor’s note: This is part of an ongoing series that tracks the city’s expenditures which appear on the upcoming Santa Monica City Council consent agenda. Consent agenda items are routinely passed by the city council with little or no discussion from elected officials or the public. However, many of the items have been part of public discussion in the past.) COUNCIL CHAMBERS — Elected leaders are expected to spend an estimated $6.4 million tonight for face lifts designed to enhance the city’s appearance for the future.

Santa Monica’s public transportation system will undergo a $4.7 million extreme makeover, while the city’s land use plan will be nipped and tucked into a new design costing $1.6 million. Santa Monica’s representatives in Washington will be paid $63,000 to keep injecting the city’s needs into the national scope of government.

As 88 Big Blue Buses approach their mid-life crisis, the city’s public transportation system will be the most expensive expenditure of the night. The $4,695,526 — paid by state and local tax revenue dedicated to transit funds — will lift the sagging looks and functioning of the buses. New wheelchair ramps, seats, a video security system, new lighting and other amenities will be installed.

The improvements will keep the buses running safe during their 12-year life span, officials said. Six video cameras — four inside and two outside of the buses — will take digital images and archive them. The cameras will be installed in 125 buses and will help reduce vandalism and graffiti, improve security, provide information on driver/passenger disputes and lower false claims made against the transportation system, officials said.

Santa Monica’s presence in the nation’s capitol will remain firm after tonight’s $63,600 payment to the Ferguson Group, a lobbying consultant company which has worked on City Hall’s federal issues in the past.

The contract for this year asks the group to help City Hall monitor water contamination, and work on issues like community and economic development, as well as housing advocacy. The group also will be asked to advocate for infrastructure improvements such as the Palisades Bluffs stabilization, and transit alternatives such as light rail funding and boulevard improvements.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/55/9f/559f9abc-8372-4a2e-8c2d-27386da4e363/content/images/2026/10/071304-01_01.jpg)

Mechanic John Shipley, far left, on Monday repairs a wheelchair lift on a Big Blue Bus. (Photo: Carolyn Sackariason/Daily Press)

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on July 13, 2004.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/071304.pdf?ref=smdp.com)