NextGen Bus Plan Approved in Los Angeles

The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority  (Metro) Board of Directors recently approved the NextGen bus plan after three years of planning and a high profile outreach and public engagement campaign, according to an article by Steve Hymon for Metro's The Source.

Metro planning staff released a draft of the plan in January 2020, but the plan largely vanished from the public eye as the pandemic gutted transit ridership in the city. Now the plan for the nation's second busiest bus system will begin to implement service changes in December 2020, with a second and third round of changes coming in June 2021 and December 2021, respectively.

"Under the new plan — to be implemented in stages, beginning in December (more on this below) — buses will arrive every five to 10 minutes for 83 percent of current riders compared to around 48 percent today," according to Hymon.

One of the key changes of the NextGen plan will be to combine most rapid and local bus routes. "These new lines will stop fewer times than a local bus but a few more than a rapid. Transit signal priority that has been a key part of rapid service will also now work these new lines. The end result will be a faster door-to-door trip for all riders, whether they currently take Metro Local or Rapid routes," according to Hymon.

A significant obstacle standing in the way of full implementation of the NextGen plan includes ridership and fare revenues decimated by the pandemic. Metro staff are expected to deliver a plan for increasing service while dealing with declining system revenues later this year.