# L.A. Metro Plans Big Bus Cuts



## WhoozOn1st (Mar 20, 2011)

Nine routes are up for elimination, some would see reductions, others would get enhanced service, operating costs would be reduced, and maintenance would be improved.

L.A.'s bus service faces major cuts

"Metro Chief Executive Arthur Leahy pointed to 'astonishingly low' ridership levels on buses headed into downtown L.A. each morning, and noted that the bus system operates at about 42% capacity overall.

"Leahy, who began his career as a bus operator, said the [federal consent] decree [under which the system operated for 10 years] forced Metro to add buses 'without regard to whether it was better service or properly managed.' Along with the cuts, his plans also call for enhanced service on more than a dozen lines.

"'I like buses; I grew up in the bus system,' he added. 'But I also grew up in a system that was very efficient, a system where people worked very hard to make sure there was an efficient realization of taxpayer dollars. That's the point here.'

"If approved, the cuts would drop Metro's peak fleet to about 1,900 buses — 400 fewer than it operated during the height of the decree.

"The latest changes also call for an increase in the buses' load factor from 1.2 to 1.3, meaning that a 40-seat bus would carry a maximum of 52 passengers, instead of the 48 it carries now. The plan would cut Metro's net operating costs by an estimated $23 million and allow the agency to better maintain its bus fleet, something Leahy said has been put on the back burner."


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## Spokker (Mar 21, 2011)

12% sounds like a lot until you realize bus service has been bloated for years anyway.

I could find fault with some parts of the plan, but overall this isn't a big deal. This isn't like Orange County which decimated its bus system.


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## Green Maned Lion (Mar 21, 2011)

There is no such thing as a bloated transit system. Transit should serve everyone, accomodation or not, and any cut should see the person suggesting the cuts drawn, quartered, and hung from the nearest yardarm!


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## WhoozOn1st (Mar 25, 2011)

"A non-rail thread where it belongs!"

The proposed cuts have been approved, and will be implemented in late June...

MTA board OKs deep cuts in bus service

"...Metro officials say they are still providing adequate service while making the bus system more efficient. They noted that there are alternative services within a quarter-mile of every line that will be eliminated or scaled back. Additionally, officials said that at least $9 million of the $23 million saved by the reductions would go toward making the remaining system run more smoothly."


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## WhoozOn1st (Aug 23, 2011)

Following the service cuts that were implemented in June the L.A. Bus Riders Union and other activists are calling for - surprise - more buses...

L.A. transit activists rally for a federal probe

"The [bus riders] union and several other activist groups at what was billed as a 'transit justice town hall,' accused the county transportation agency of hurting poor riders by aggressively pursuing new rail projects while slashing bus service. The groups say the cuts unfairly hurt low-income, nonwhite residents and insist that bus service needs to be expanded."

"The most recent cuts to Metro's bus service were made in June when a few lines were eliminated and service was scaled back on several others. Those cuts were made about five years after a federal judge lifted a decade-long consent decree that gave a court-appointed special master oversight of how Metro managed its bus service. Metro's ridership, which has stagnated in recent years, rose while the agency was under the decree, as bus service increased and fares were reduced.

"But Metro officials citing 'astonishingly low' ridership numbers on some lines said that the cuts were designed to reduce redundancy in the system and increase efficiency and that the decree had forced them to offer an artificially inflated level of service that was unaffordable."


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## WhoozOn1st (Apr 25, 2012)

Yeah the topic started over a year ago, but the feds are now expressing dissatisfaction with the cuts noted above, and others over the last several years. Bus passenger advocates don't think the feds are going far enough.

U.S. orders Metro to review cuts in bus service

"A federal agency has ordered Los Angeles County transportation officials to review whether cutting hundreds of thousands of hours in bus service over the last few years was unjust to riders.

"The demand came in a scathing letter Monday from Federal Transit Administration chief Peter Rogoff that discusses 'disturbing findings' of a civil rights investigation into policies and practices at the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

"Those include Metro's failure to conduct the proper analyses when implementing service changes over the last several years. In the letter, Rogoff chides Metro officials, saying they 'should be well familiar with the requirements' because of many years of litigation and a previous consent decree over civil rights issues."







North American Bus Industries 2006 BRT-60. SoCal Metro photo.
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