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# Big Blue Bus turns 75
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/big-blue-bus-turns-75/
- Published: 2003-04-15T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T02:04:31.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Government & Politics, Santa Monica, #archive-import

*Big Blue Bus holds B-day bash*

*By Daily Press staff*

The Big Blue Bus turned 75 years old on Monday.

Four workers were honored for their longevity at the anniversary celebration, which attracted about 70 employees and community members.

Santa Monica’s buses carry more than 80,000 passengers each day, said Stephanie Negriff, director of transportation services for the bus system.

Negriff said that over the past five years, bus service in the city has expanded by more than 40 percent.

There are no immediate plans to raise the 75-cent fare, she added.

Bus driver Lewis Kelly, who was ill on Monday and has worked at the bus company for 39 years, was honored in absentia. Employee Donna Wells, a customer service representative who was hired in 1977 as the bus line’s second woman driver, was honored alongside mechanic Ben Leivas, a 28-year employee, and driver Michael Burton, who has been with the outfit for 36 years.

BUS, from page 1 Berardinelli and local poet Keith Mason showed up to honor the city’s bus line.

“The Big Blue Bus for the City of Santa Monica is really an ambassador to the rest of the region,” Bloom said. “People see it, people understand it for the well-run, well-employed fantastic facility that it is.”

When the blue buses first took to city streets in 1928, riders had to cough up 5 cents for a lift and service was restricted mainly to Pico Boulevard. But by 1935, the bus operator had added lines to Ocean Park Boulevard and the Pacific Palisades, and in 1948 the buses began serving the then brand-new Olympic Boulevard.

During World War II, buses carried workers to and from the Douglas plant at the airport 24 hours a day.

With a fleet of 107 in 1951, the bus company took on Santa Monica and Wilshire boulevards, as well as Montana and Carlyle avenues. Today, there are 211 buses run by the Big Blue Bus and 37 are powered by natural gas. The organization is currently finishing construction of a natural gas fueling station at its headquarters, which is located at the intersection of Colorado Boulevard and Sixth Street.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/55/9f/559f9abc-8372-4a2e-8c2d-27386da4e363/content/images/2026/10/041503-04_01.jpg)

of Big Blue Bus Santa Monicans load up in one of the first buses in the city. (Photo: Photo courtesy)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/55/9f/559f9abc-8372-4a2e-8c2d-27386da4e363/content/images/2026/10/041503-04_02.jpg)

Volunteers from the Culinary Arts Institute cut the cake at the 75th birthday bash for Santa Monica’s Big Blue Bus. (Photo: John Wood/Daily Press)

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on April 15, 2003.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/041503.pdf?ref=smdp.com)