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.

My Latest Discovery -- nextbus.com

I was standing on the corner of La Cienega & Pico awaiting a bus to West Hollywood when a handsome blonde gentleman named Erik struck up a conversation with me.   He wanted me to know about this website http://nextbus.com/ which by using GPS technology and some mathematical algorithm I couldn't even begin to understand states when the next in-service buses would be arriving around a particular location.

I used the web browser on my smart phone to access the site.  Sure enough, the next buses came exactly when the nextbus.com said it would.  Has everyone else in transitland known about this site and I was just in the dark?  As we know, the buses do not always run on schedule and when waiting it would be good to know when the bus will actually be arriving, especially on days when the weather in less than California sublime.

Try this site yourself and report back to see if it works consistently for you.  If so, the transit riding world should know (if it doesn't already and I was the clueless one left in the dark).

Metro proposes truncating the Rapid 704 and Local 217 buses. Make your voice heard.

Warninig,

Metro is about to reduce service on the Rapid 704 by terminating the eastern end of the line at Sunset/Alvarado. So you if you were heading downtown on the 704, you would have a forced transfer to the Red Line at Santa Monica/Vermont. Line 2 would be rerouted to go to Union Station instead of the 704, so you'd have to transfer to a local 2 or local 4 to get to Echo Park or further stops downtown.

Here's a thought. Line 304 used to go into the heart of downtown and it used to be packed solid during rush hour. I know this, because I used to ride it. Perhaps the change that needed to be made here was simply switching the 2 and the 704 so that the 704 went into the heart of downtown. (Unfortunately, unlike Penn Station and Grand Central Station in New York and Liverpool Street Station and Charing Cross Station in London, there isn't much "destination" ridership to/from Union Station as it is pretty much used for transfers to/from trains only.

My comment to Metro is that the should simply switch the 2 and 704 routes east of Sunset/Alvarado and try that before truncating the service.

Another bus service truncation you need to know about is Metro's proposal to terminate all northern trips of the 217 at Hollywood/Vine station. This means if you are headed to East Hollywood or Los Feliz, Metro will force you to transfer onto the Local 180/ Rapid 780.

Forced transfers are so discouraging to potential transit riders.

Here are the details of all the proposed service "enhancements". (In bureaucratic language, a service reduction is still called an "enhancement".)

http://www.metro.net/around/service-enhancements/metro-service-enhancements-proposed/

If you have any comment about these proposals, please contact Metro at servicechanges@metro.net

Please send in your comments in and be heard.

California's Financial Armageddon

Well, I hope everyone in California is happy. You showed them! You rejected all of the ballot measures yesterday.

Go on. Feel self-satisfied that you stood up to those politicians in Sacramento.

Unfortunately, the Day of Reckoning is coming. We are going to see cuts in services beyond our worst nightmare.

Yes, the politicians are to blame. Yes, they overspent money in the good times and didn't prudently save.

However, you voters are to blame too. You consistently vote yourself lower taxes and higher spending and then hamstring the legislature with spending requirements. You then enacted term limits which gave immense power to lobbyists because no one is around with any institutional memory or stake in long-term planning. You have an woefully small State Legislature with only 80 Assemblymembers for 36,000,000 people (with one member for every 450,000 persons, over 10 times the national median). You instituted a 2/3 budget rule which means super-MINORITIES on both sides of the spectrum can stop all decision making. Therefore, you want it all, low taxes and high spending.

You are about to experience the REAL world. You're not totally at fault. Conservatives sold you an economic lie that low taxes would bring so much economic growth you would not need to cut spending in order to balance the budget. They told you that you could have "something-for-nothing". And, of course, you wanted to believe them.

However, now we are going to get draconian spending cuts far beyond your worst nightmare. And this is not what the majority opinion in this state is.

Just know the era of supply-side economics is over. Tax cuts do not "pay for themselves". They require spending cuts to balanced the budget. Previously conservatives have gotten away with calling for tax cuts without having to outline how they would be paid for. Now you will see what level of spending conservative tax policy will support. And chances are high that you won't like it.

I want to know why rescinding the 2/3 state budget rule wasn't on the ballot.

I want to vote for a measure that will repeal that undemocratic rule AND repeal all voter improved tax and spending measures for the last 40 years, including Prop. 13 and Prop. 98, thus both forcing and enabling the legislature and governor to once again make policy decisions and be held accountable for those decisions. I want to increase (double) the size of the State Assembly to 160 members so that Committees have more influence and that districts are less populous so that less special interest money is needed to run for these seats.

I want California State Government to be overhauled root and branch, and I want the elected politicians to be able to enact and be held accountable for their policies. No more rule by super-minority and being able to blame the other party for their intransigence.

Blame the Governor and the Legislature and your fellow voters, and the worst economy since the Great Depression for this financial disaster, but primarily blame the undemocratic 2/3 budget rule for the prisoners about to released early from prison, from the parks that will close, for the draconian cuts in education and health and transportation spending, and for the draconian cuts to county and city budgets soon to follow.

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Note: As far as transit goes, if you want to know why we are about to have cuts in bus service despite passing Measure R, it is because the state budget completely abolished the $536 million that it dedicated to subsidizing transit operations.