Big Blue Bus Route in Ocean Park Targeted Again

There are too few riders to justify continuing to send a Big Blue Bus south of Pico Boulevard in the Ocean Park neighborhood, according to transit officials.

In the past six months, ridership averaged three people on the buses where there’s capacity for about 40. It cost about $200,000 to operate, plus an additional $300,000 to subsidize fares, according to spokeswoman Linda Gamberg.

"It might be that frankly we don’t have the resources to serve that small segment any more,” she said. "We never enjoy decreasing any service, but we have to be as smart and efficient as possible."

They’ve been tracking ridership and operational costs since August, when they made a number of . The changes included a proposal to completely eliminate a segment of Route 2 south of Pico, but the city compromised with residents and kept about half, a three-quarter mile stretch on Fourth Street from Hill to Main.

Now, the remaining portion of that segment is back on the chopping block.

"What we have been doing is following up on a service proposal change that was made in August of 2011," said Gamberg. "We shortened [Route 2] and told the City Council and the public that we would monitor it for six months and then report back with recommendation about what our next steps are."

A decision to eliminate the segment of Route 2 will be made in the coming weeks—it will not require City Council approval—after the Big Blue Bus has gathered input from Ocean Park residents, Gamberg said.

The Big Blue Bus held one of two community meetings Wednesday, and another is scheduled for 6 p.m. today at the library's Ocean Park branch at 2601 Main St.

“Even if the numbers just don’t bear fruit and we do need to truncate the service it wouldn’t happen until August,” Gamberg said. “That would provide the city and neighbors several months to come up with an alternate service.”

The few people who do ride that segment of Route 2, which connects downtown Santa Monica to UCLA via Wilshire Boulevard,. Part of the community meetings will include brainstorming ways to ensure they aren't left without rides to grocery stores, doctors' appointments and the like.

Other residents, however, want the buses out of their neighborhood. They've complained about excessive noise from the traffic, especially on the uphill trip on Hill Street.

“Those of us who live on Hill and Fourth Streets have endured the noise of the No. 2 buses for long enough,” resident Kate Holt told the City Council in August. 

If the route from Hill to Main is eliminated, Route 2's most western stop would be at the .

Budget shortfalls at the state and national levels continue to plague the Big Blue Bus, leaving it underfunded. Fares make up just 20 percent of the agency’s operating revenue. Since the economy tanked in 2008, in addition to route changes, it has increased fares, let go of temporary workers and automated some of its services.

"We have a structural deficit that’s growing," Gamberg said.

The Big Blue Bus averages about 80,000 boardings a day, or over 20 million passengers a year, across a 52-square-mile service area that stretches from Santa Monica to downtown Los Angeles.

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