Mini busses bring debate
Thanks to some movement in the public transit movement in 2007, rail advocates are one step closer toward realizing the dream of bypassing vehicular traffic and riding the Expo Light Rail from Santa Monica to Downtown Los Angeles.
Among the issues that shaped Santa Monica this year, perhaps none has experienced more changes than transportation, from the ground-breaking of the highly-anticipated Exposition Light Rail in Downtown Los Angeles earlier this year, to the introduction of a fleet of smaller buses that run on alternative fuel, affectionately named “Mini Blue.”
Through the smaller version of its flagship fleet, the Big Blue Bus introduced the new Sunset Ride in August, a line that connects various Santa Monica College satellite locations and parking lots with the main campus on Pico Boulevard. The Sunset Ride is part of the Big Blue Bus’ community transit initiative, aimed at bringing public transportation into the neighborhood in order to encourage residents to stay out of their cars and spend more time on the busses, decreasing not only congestion, but air pollution. The busses run frequently, arriving at a stop every 15-20 minutes, and has been successful, drawing more than 2,500 boardings a day in its first three months. But the Sunset Ride hasn’t been without its share of controversy. In November, a group of residents living near the line’s stop at 20th and Pearl streets — right off of Santa Monica College — voiced their frustrations at a community meeting held by the Big Blue Bus. Many of the neighbors complained about the volume of students loitering around the bus stop, which in itself has more than 250 boardings a day. Among the complaints were of students smoking in front of windows and littering on private property. While neighbors asked the line be rerouted to Pico Boulevard instead of Pearl Street, Big Blue Bus officials proposed moving the stop to 17th and Pearl, bringing the stop closer to the campus.
“We want to do the best (we can) to come to a compromise and make everyone happy and still allow us to offer the best transit service possible,” Big Blue Bus Spokesman Dan Dawson said in November.
The Mini Blue Bus was just one among the slew of changes the Big Blue Bus underwent this year, the most recent being the opening of the Big Blue Bus transit store on Broadway, off Second Street, in mid- November, making customer service more accessible by moving it from the old location on Olympic Boulevard and Seventh Street, which ironically wasn’t near a bus line.
The new digs include both a customer service center and a retail store, selling Big Blue Bus branded T-shirts and jewelry.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on December 27, 2007. Read the original PDF.