Moment of Zen: Watch L.A.'s New Bus Lane Outperform Car Traffic in Real Time

Back in June, a tweet by Investing in Place set Los Angeles transit Twitter on fire.

This bus only lane got us like Today the @metrolosangeles bus only lane opened on Flower #betterbusesforla #GoMetro @CurrenDPriceJr @josehuizar @MayorOfLA @LADOTofficial @metrolosangeles pic.twitter.com/DEkR2UnMIH

— Investing in Place (@InvestinPlace) June 4, 2019

As reported by Joe Linton for Streetsblog Los Angeles in June , the Flower Street bus-only lane was made necessary by the "New Blue" project underway at the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro), which has shut down the heavily used Blue Line light rail line for months now. "The upper half of the Blue Line is currently closed through late September," and downtown Expo Line stations shared with the Blue Line will also closed from June 22 through late August, according to Linton.

During construction, Metro is operating replacement bus service, including additional southbound buses on Flower Street through downtown L.A. where the right lane is bus-only from 3-7 p.m. on weekdays. The southbound Flower lane is half of a couplet, paired with the existing northbound bus-only lane on Figueroa Street.

Transit advocates immediately called for the temporary bus-only lane (and the level of enforcement afforded to the lane) to be made permanent. The viral momentum is timed well with highly visible arguments for better bus service around the city. Metro seems to be encouraging that groundswell of support—or stoking the fire, depending on how you want to look at it. The latest viral image is a play on the familiar trope of how many people can fit onto a street in the space apportioned cars, bikes, walking, buses, trains, etc. Except this illustration happens in real time.

Here it is, your moment of Zen (apologies to Jon Stewart and the Daily Show):

A bird's eye view of a dedicated bus lane in action. We're moving nearly 70 buses an hour through the Flower Street bus lane each evening! pic.twitter.com/funsVVdX81

— LA Metro (@metrolosangeles) July 23, 2019