A First Look at Big Bus Rapid Transit Plans in Los Angeles

Steven Sharp reports on the details of a "technical study for a proposed bus rapid transit line which would link the Red, Purple, Expo and Green Lines via Vermont Avenue" in Los Angeles.

"The project stretches approximately 12.4 miles between Hollywood Boulevard in Los Feliz and 120th Street in the unincorporated community of Athens," reports Sharp. "With 45,000 daily boardings between Metro's 754 and 204 lines, Vermont is the second busiest bus corridor in the Metro network after Wilshire Boulevard.  However, heavy congestion often interferes with service, resulting in slow travel speeds, late arrivals and overcrowding."

The technical study includes four concepts currently under consideration for the BRT proposal. The concepts range from end-to-end side running BRT (Concept 1), a combination of side and center running BRT (Concept 2), curbside running BRT (Concept 3), and peak period curbside running BRT (Concept 4). Concept 4 is already in place along stretches of Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles, and most transit advocates consider such a proposal to be "BRT-lite," and well short of the BRT gold standard.