Big Blue Bus is on the money when it comes to reliability
By EMILY SKEHAN I Special to the Daily Press
CITY WIDE Los Angeles may be the notorious city of drivers, but Santa Monica might have a leg up on mass transit.
“I take the bus all the time!” Said Santa Monica resident Shirley Rakuljic, who was waiting for the no. 4 bus on Friday morning, “the Big Blue Bus is just really community-friendly.”
The Santa Monica system has received plenty of recognition for its public transit services — in 1998, the fleet was named the number one urban transit system in a comparative study conducted by the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, and in 2000 it won the American Public Transportation Association’s Outstanding Achievement Award — but do the busses run smoothly?
Over three days, I took a variety of local busses to locations around Santa Monica and beyond, from the Third Street Promenade to the Westside Pavilion to UCLA to Venice. I arrived at bus stops five minutes before the next scheduled bus, and waited to see how timely they were.
I started with the 2 Line, which runs on Wilshire from UCLA to Venice. Unfortunately, this was my first bus and I showed up about two minutes late — only to see the big blue vehicle pass me by.
I walked two blocks to catch the one Los Angeles Metro bus that I rode throughout my journey — the rapid 704 that runs from Downtown Los Angeles to the beach on Santa Monica Boulevard, which came within three minutes of my arrival to the bus stop. While this bus ride (which cost $1.25) was admittedly faster — it only took about seven minutes to get from 26th Street to Third Street, a trip that would carve out a good 15 minutes on the Big Blue — the Metro rapid busses don’t have extensive stops in Santa Monica, and this one only let off passengers at 20th, 14th, and Third streets.
My day continued with trips on the 7, 4, and 1 lines, which run on Pico, San Vicente, and Santa Monica boulevards, respectively. Each bus ran very close to schedule, generally with two to three minutes left. During morning and afternoon hours, the busses were mostly full with students, while mid-day trips generally consisted of senior citizens.
“I take the bus everyday to school,” said Venice Skills Center student Margarita Mendez, an 11th grader who was waiting for the 3 Line on Thursday afternoon. “Most of the time it’s pretty easy.”
Mendez says she has never been late because of the bus, and her only complaint is that during peak hours it can get a little crowded.
“I hate when there are so many people that you start getting pushed around,” she said, “besides that I wouldn’t change anything.”
The general mood of passengers was relaxed, although I did note that when the bus ran even a few minutes late travelers stationed at bus stops began to get a little agitated, checking their watches and looking expectantly down the street. When I had to be somewhere on time, I could-n’t help but get a little on edge myself.
In 2005, 20,543,294 mass transit riders took the Big Blue Bus, averaging about 56,282 riders a day.
This summer, the Big Blue Bus underwent some changes this summer, with the introduction of the Mini-Blue lines and a revamping of the fare system.
The Mini-Blue lines are a fleet of smaller, intra-city busses that run every 15 minutes on less expansive routes throughout Santa Monica. For a quarter, I caught one of these from Main Street to the Promenade. While schedules have yet to be posted, I didn’t have to wait more than ten minutes for my baby blue to arrive.
This summer, the old transfer system was retooled and new fares were set in place. Adults still ride for 75 cents, seniors for 25, and students for 50. Transfers now cost 50 cents, but can be used on any bus line going in any direction for two hours. As a student under 20 years old, I bought a day pass for $1.25 that allowed me to travel all over the city until 2 a.m. — although I was asleep long before then.
After taking more than 12 bus trips in three days, I was pretty impressed. Not only did almost every bus run on time, they covered quite an extensive territory.
Yes, some lines were up to 10 minutes late, and while the East-West routes are easier to navigate than those that move North- South — one must either be all the way up at Bundy Drive or in downtown to traverse from Santa Monica to the Venice and West Los Angeles areas — but overall, the busses were efficient and got me to where I needed to go.
Furthermore, the busses are a pretty green alternative to driving around the city — 43 percent of the fleet is fueled by liquefied natural gas, which is 77 percent cleaner burning than diesel-fueled buses.
“The Big Blue Bus is clean, safe and generally a better way to travel downtown because parking here can be really hard,” said Rakuljic. “It’s just so easy to take the bus.”
Rakuljic added that although she’s usually impressed with the Big Blue’s schedule, it can be difficult to take the public system when she’s in a rush.
“If you have a 30 minute window, you’re going to be okay,” she said. “If you have a five minute window, you might not be.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on September 8, 2007. Read the original PDF.