Local #7 Big Blue Bus Service worse than ever

After the shiny new Rapid 7 bus service debuted, the Big Blue Bus cut its popular Local 7 bus service.  They said that this would not affect rush hour service, but that has proven to be nonsense.

Local 7 buses are stuffed like sardines during rush hour in a manner far worse than before, when they actually come, and when they actually stop.  This morning 20 people were left standing at Pico/Fairfax because a nearly full Local 7 bus decided not to stop and pick anybody up.  The last two weeks, the Local 7 eastbound service that used to arrive around 5:20-5:25 pm at Pico/Roxbury didn't show up at all.  The next buses that finally showed up 15-20 mintues later were stuffed beyond capacity.

Calls for the Big Blue Bus to DO something about this have clearly gone unheard as the Big Blue Bus probably just hopes that those pesky Local 7 bus riders simply wear themselves out and accept their fate.

This is not to say that the Rapid 7 service isn't a success.  It clearly is.  The shiny new articulated Rapid 7 buses carrying passengers from Santa Monica to the Wilshire/Western Purple Line station are full.   Like a shiny new toy, this service is getting attention from Big Blue Bus, while the boring, sad, old, lonely toy of the Local 7 gets ignored.  

I'm not suggesting cutting the new Rapid 7 service.  In fact, I support it fully.  I wish the buses went to Vermont/Wilshire to allow a one-seat transfer to from the Red Line too.  However, what would be helpful is if Big Blue Bus just admitted the truth about the Local 7.  They've clearly cut rush hour Local 7 service in favor of the Rapid 7 service and are hoping Local 7 riders either keep quiet or go away.

Cutting Local 7 service during rush hour if the local ridership had declined would make sense.  That ridership has not declined.  Therefore, I call upon the Big Blue Bus to please, please, please, restore the obviously cut rush hour service on this corridor or at least run articulated Local 7s so that local service passengers can at least get on the bus when it finally arrives.

Has the Big Blue Bus Local #7 been thrown "under the bus"?

Has anyone else noticed a sharp decline in the Local 7 service on the Big Blue Bus since the extended and increased Rapid 7 service to the Wilshire/Western Purple Line station was instituted?

Buses come less frequently and are far more crowded. Yesterday, four #7 buses came at once. One woman stated she had waited an hour for a Local #7 bus.

This is not a criticism of the new Rapid 7 service, which seems very popular. I just wish the Rapid 7 now went all the way to the Wilshire/Vermont station so there could be a one-seat transfer to the Red Line as well.

However, as inconvenient as bus stacking is, to have FOUR buses approach Pico and Beverly around the same time last night tells me that something is off operationally. The Big Blue Bus normally runs a stellar service with clean, on-time buses, so this is not an overall criticism of them.

What is your experience on the Local 7 during the last two weeks?

UPDATE:

Things are getting ugly on the Local 7 Big Blue Bus.

On Friday morning, I was riding the Local 7 to work, stuffed to capacity, when an angry older gentleman started saying very loudly to anyone who would hear:

- "They are treating us like animals making us stand. My rapid stop (Beverly/Pico) has been eliminated and now I am twenty minutes late for work every day. I called the Big Blue Bus and no one can tell me why. We all need to write the Mayor of Santa Monica!"

- Another woman said loudly back to him, "they've written off this corridor."

They both complained about the Rapids getting the longer buses while they were standing.

This Monday morning, the Local 7 was LATE, and stuffed to capacity. People were denied entry because the bus was so full, meaning they'd be even later having to wait for the next one. The same elder gentleman from Friday. who was pressed up against the front of the bus was shouting, "We are taxpayers! We are not animals. We don't have to be treated this way. Write a letter, make a phone call."

Now I am a big fan of the Big Blue Bus and the normally stellar service it offers, but the Big Blue Bus needs to do something. If people can no longer board a bus or get to work on time, that is their bread and butter.

Please put articulated Local 7s and/or just plain more Local 7s on Pico during rush hour.   I do not believe the Rapids are to blame and they are just as crowded as the Locals.

Maybe we should think big about this corridor and consider rush hour bus-only lanes on Pico.

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