The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) announced plans last week to undertake a review of the agency's massive bus system. The redesign will hope to address declining ridership.
"After years of relatively few changes, Metro is beginning the process of reimagining and restructuring its bus system [pdf] to better meet the needs of past, current and future riders," reports Steve Hymon.
After stressing that Metro is only beginning the process (more on that later), Hymon lists some key takeaways for interested observers, including a timeline of next steps. By the end of the year, Metro plans to hire a consultant to "identify the different transit markets in L.A. County; study the agency’s current bus system and how well it serves current and potential customers, and; recommend how best to transform the system to be more relevant to what people want today." Metro plans to complete the review of the bus system by 2019.
Hymon also notes that that the Metro bus system has seen substantial decline in ridership in recent years, similar to the experience of bus systems in other metropolitan areas. Hymon says Metro's goal with the review is to "retain current riders, reclaim past riders and recruit new riders."
The new plan would seem to follow up on the recommendations of a "Blue Ribbon Committee," presented to Metro in July 2015. Hymon did not mention whether those recommendations would inform the new review process.
FULL STORY: Metro plans to reimagine and restructure its vast bus system
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