Rapid buses near Staples Center. Photo: LA Wad/FlickrAmidst the excitement of Bikeside Speaks (covered in great
detail by Stephen Box here),
Bikerowave’s own City Councilmember Bill Rosendahl dropped a juicy bit of
information during his presentation.
Starting next month, the MTA will roll out its Metro Rapid
bus service on Venice Boulevard. Replacing the existing 333 limited stop service along Venice will be
(wait for it) a Rapid 733 line running from Centinela Ave. Downtown Santa Monica to Patsaouras Plaza
in Downtown Los Angeles (Thanks for clarifying, Jerard.) For those sitting at
their computers constantly hitting refresh on the Metro Rapid Updates Page,
you’ve already seen this news buried in a list of bullet points as “Venice
Blvd. (Metro Rapid Line 733, June 2010).”
With services set to begin on Sunday June 27th,
it is unclear why Metro has not been advertising this change more aggressively,
given that part of Rapid’s genesis was to increase the visibility of Metro
services. The only mention
on The Source is a January notice of proposed services changes on fourteen
routes.
On a visceral level, adding Rapid service to Venice
Boulevard makes sense. Take a
quick glance at the Metro Rapid Service
Map (Wikipedia’s map is apparently more up-to-date than Metro's
[huge PDF warning]). You can
see a nice series of parallel routes running east-west along Wilshire, Santa
Monica, Olympic, Pico, and then a big jump further south to Rodeo
Rd./Vernon. Adding the 733 line
helps fill out the Rapid system, increasing access to one of Metro’s trademark
services and the destinations it serves.
However, those hoping for all the trappings of the initial
Rapid lines along Wilshire and Ventura shouldn’t hold their breath. According to Paul Backstrom, Deputy
Planning Director for Councilmember Rosendahl, at present there is no money to
build bus shelters, “next bus” displays, or other improvements along the route,
despite it being a “key
attribute” of the Rapid service.
Asked if there were any plans to give buses dedicated lanes
on Venice Blvd. – like those about to be installed on Wilshire – Backstrom
expressed support for the idea, but added that nothing was in the works. If dedicated bus lanes were to be employed
going forward, Backstrom hopes that lessons could be learned from the Wilshire
experience, specifically to avoid the series of hang-ups that have slowed the
implementation process.
Further Reading: For an in-depth analysis of the Metro Rapid
system, check out Jarrett
Walker’s piece over at Human Transit,
where he discusses how the service has changed (for better and worse) in its
transformation from a specialized service on two corridors to an expansive, if
more diluted, system of nearly 30 lines traversing over 440 miles.
