By Stephanie Negriff General Manager, Big Blue Bus
In response to (the Daily Press’) call for opinions about the safety of the Big Blue Bus (Q-Line, Sept. 15- 16), I’d like to share some facts with your readers about our city’s transit system, which is widely considered to be one of the safest and most reliable transportation systems in the world.
In 2006, the Big Blue Bus fleet traveled nearly five and a half million miles around a nearly 52-square-mile service area that includes Santa Monica and other communities in Los Angeles County. During that time, we carried over 22 million passengers safely and efficiently to their destinations. I am pleased to report that the Big Blue Bus has been the recipient of numerous awards over the years for outstanding achievement and safety, including several by the national American Public Transportation Association. (Daily Press) readers may also be interested to know that the Big Blue Bus is the only transit agency in Southern California that requires its drivers to take the School Pupil Activity Bus (SPAB) training course, which is the highest standard of training possible in the country. Many of our trainers also go through an intensive three-week course taught by the California Highway Patrol to become SPAB certified instructors. We also require all of our drivers to undergo a total of 280 hours of behind the wheel training and classroom instruction, compared with only 40 hours required by the state of California.
By way of numbers, California’s transit systems are now enjoying their highest ridership levels since World War II. Each year, public transit carries over one billion passengers, which is more than seven times the number of passengers carried by the state’s 14 largest airports. This important trend of using public transportation is not only helping to cut down on overcrowding on our streets and highways, but is also having a significant impact on pollution levels, especially in larger metropolitan areas.
We at the Big Blue Bus are proud of our service record, and will continue doing the utmost possible to maintain the trust the public has placed in us. Getting our passengers safely to their destinations has always been, and will continue to be, our number-one priority. I invite (Daily Press) readers to contact us with any questions, concerns or comments they might like to share regarding any area of our service, training or operations.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on September 22, 2007. Read the original PDF.