On the day Expo Phase 2 opens in 2016, Big Blue Bus will already have bus routes connecting to and from the light rail’s new seven stations.
The restructured Big Blue Bus routes and schedules, unanimously approved by the Santa Monica City Council April 28, are slated to change the landscape for transit in Brentwood and seamlessly incorporate Expo Light Rail into the Westside’s transportation.
“Every Big Blue Bus in the system is going to service one of the Expo Phase 2 stations,” said Tim McCormick, Transit Planning administrator for Big Blue Bus, at the Brentwood Community Council meeting May 5. “We are embracing Expo Phase 2, we’re not ignoring it, we’re not bypassing it, we’re not fighting it.”
New and changed north and south routes will facilitate connections to one or more stations, making possible less than a quarter-mile walk to the train from any bus stop. Starting with Bundy Drive and Centinela Ave., there are going to be two major changes to Brentwood’s Route 14: the north end is only going to come as far as Montana Ave. and San Vicente Blvd., and the south end is going to extend to Playa Visa, where the new Google campus is.
Brentwood will have a direct connection to what has been dubbed “Silicon Beach,” the neighborhood near Marina del Rey. Route 14 will service the Expo station at Bundy Dr.
The changes are scheduled in sequence of one another, with the north-south Barrington Ave. route scheduled for August, McCormick said. This new Route 15 will start at Barrington Ave. and Sunset Blvd. and connect to the Expo station at Bundy Dr. and Pico Blvd. Route 16 will also address a far walking distance to the Expo station.
The new Bergamot Station to Marina del Rey route will create a new crosstown dispatch from South Saltair Ave. and Wilshire Blvd. to Lincoln Blvd. and Mindanao Way. The north-south corridor of Walgrove and 23rd Ave. in Santa Monica will pass Santa Monica City College, then by Olympic Blvd. into Bergamot Station, north on Stewart St., East on Colorado Blvd., come up on Centinela Ave., and then go east on Wilshire to Saltair and create a transfer opportunity on the Bundy line.
“That’s not going to happen until next year, after the first of the year. But everything will open by the time the train comes,” McCormick explained. With additions came subtractions, however, as Big Blue Bus will eliminate Brentwood’s Route 4, which runs on San Vicente Blvd. from Wilshire and Sawtelle Blvd. all the way to Nielson Way and Pico Blvd.
To supplement high ridership on some of these stops, Big Blue Bus added Route 17, a Sawtelle Blvd. connection to Expo at the Culver City Station. And in Brentwood, Route 18 will strengthen the Montana 3M route. From the Hilgard terminal at UCLA, the bus will run west on Wilshire Blvd. to Montana Ave., and connecting to 4th St. to Abbot Kinney Blvd. and Westminister Ave. With this, Brentwood will now have a oneseat ride to Venice’s Abbot Kinney Blvd.
Finally, Route 43, starting at 14th St. and San Vicente Blvd. will run down 26th St. at peak-only times on weekdays. There are possibilities to extend the line and revise the service in the afternoon to strengthen the route later on.
“We need to embrace this wonderful transit opportunity that is coming to our community in less than a year,” McCormick said.
McCormick also said that Big Blue Bus’s services are integrated with Google, so using the Maps app will allow one to figure out the quickest ride using all L.A. Metro, Culver City Bus and other services. Once the routes have been in effect for a year, Big Blue Bus plans to re-examine for efficiency and effectiveness.
For a more detailed look into Big Blue Bus’s new routes for all of the Westside, visit expo.bigbluebus.com.
