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ChineseRide report: Metro Rapid Line 728
[tags]los angeles, mta, bus rapid transit, beverly hills[/tags]
Edited to fix musical reference.
Oh, the weather outside was frightful
but riding Olympic was mildly delightful
It was a bus and not a train
let it rain, let it rain, let it rain
Hey, it’s Christmas in a week. Let the rest of the year be reserved for prose. And juding by the groan-inducing coupling of words for this rendition of “Let it Snow”^3, it’ll be prose from now on.
This being the holiday season, Metro is no different from most of us. When it does not have the time or money to give everyone what they want, it re-gifts. In this case, it comes in a shiny red wrapper and a very big package.
Last week’s Line 328 is now Rapid Line 728. But hey, it’s the thought that counts.
Line 728 has the same stops as 328, including the Rimpau Boulevard stop for Los Angeles High School, but now does not make local stops west of Fairfax Avenue. That’s a plus, since local 28s are slowed down by frequent stops between La Cienega Boulevard and Century Park East. Plus, Olympic Boulevard now has limited-stop service during mid-days. A few people may recollect that RTD ran off-peak 328 service for a year or two in the late 1980s.
One precedent that 728 set was being the first Rapid line to be introduced on a local line with the single-largest ridership drop in Los Angeles. As of this Sunday, Olympic Boulevard has been decoupled from lines 83 and 84. This trunking made Line 28 one of the busiest lines in the Metro system — Metro adds up the boardings from each route to a larger trunk ridership. This was also a very long line that meant delays in West or Northeast Los Angeles would compound problems later on down the line. The shorter routes should mean more reliable service on 28 and 83; Line 84 has been coupled with the Cesar Chavez Avenue leg of Line 68.
That’s enough back-story on Metro operations. Now, we ride.
The early afternoon trip began from Union Station at 1:04 p.m. Tuesday. Union Station is used in the loosest sense here, as the trip begins across the street at Cesar Chavez and Vignes Avenue. Even Metro is beginning to abandon the Patsaouras Transit Plaza now.
Line 728 can’t hang with the cool buses that get to go inside the Patsaouras Transit Plaza. This is its first stop in downtown L.A. Not anywhere to be found: a sign for Line 728. Notwithstanding, this stop has something really cool.
Peep this. Metro is giving the new-style headline another try, at least for the local lines on the big board. The signs now list line numbers, destinations and headways throughout the service day. Also, on the silver strip above the 1-800-COMMUTE phone number, there is a bus stop ID number. Perhaps Metro may go to a call-a-stop service as seen on most Canadian transit services.
Metro has very high hopes for Line 728. That, or it has more red buses than it knows what to do with, though not in Monday’s case for Line 770. The trip had bus #9543, a freshman NABI 60-BRT complete with new bus smell. It’s very much like new car smell, but with more plastic overtones and less upholstery aromas.
In downtown, 728 covers Spring and Hill streets. The Rapids don’t serve every stop, thankfully, but rather than the usual mile spacing, the stops are spaced every 3-4 blocks. And with traffic lights every block, 728 is not much faster than complementary locals. There were quite a few passengers boarding downtown, but most of the activity on the line was along Olympic. Most passengers seemed to recognize this was a limited-stop service and weren’t confused by where it was going.
The shape of things to come: L.A. Live, soon to be a major trip generator. It was this or re-running the tree in front of City Hall that was used in the 770 Ride Report.
Olympic Boulevard has a cross-cultural crosstown aspect much like 770. Heading west from downtown, the bus passes through the predominantly Central American Pico-Union community. At Olympic and Union Avenue is the flagship of both La Curacao, a fast-growing furniture and electronics emporium geared to Latino consumers, and Pollo Campero, Guatemala’s equivalent of KFC. When Pollo Campero first opened here in 2002, the lines stretched a block long! In fact, most Campero franchises are in close proximity to La Curacao stores in Southern California.
Scenes from a NABI: Passengers aboard bus #9543 on Line 728
Around Alvarado Street, the Central American stores transition to Korean. Olympic is the primary commercial corridor of Koreatown. Everything from medical services to new and used cars to savory cuisine is available in this accurate replication of Korea. A trip down Olympic between Alvarado and Crenshaw Boulevard is just like visiting Seoul, right down to the authentic shoebox strip malls.
A bold, almost iconoclastic, piece of Koreatown architecture: the strip mall that dares to be different. Originally an office building, this property near Olympic and Normandie Avenue has a curious mix of storefront retail and a variety of businesses on the upper floors, all advertised with signs of similar size on the outside.
The land use west of Crenshaw makes a dramatic transition. This is also where both local and Rapid buses jet through the area. Olympic is residential, with the exception of Los Angeles High School and a public library across the street. Commercial activity is confined to the Rite Aid on Crenshaw and a strip mall at La Brea. Peter McFerrin did a fascinating walk-through of the Longwood Highlands neighborhood, which can be seen along this line. It has pictures!
At Fairfax Avenue is Little Ethiopia, with such unique institutions as … umm, Carl’s Jr., T Mobile and Starbucks, which may or may not carry Ethiopian coffee beans. Seriously, though, between Olympic and Pico there are a few Ethiopian restaurants and boutiques. And about a block east of Fairfax is one of the five remaining Pioneer Chicken stores.
Fairfax Avenue, looking south. Little Ethiopia is down this way, bookended by the Starbucks at left and Carls Jr. on the right, barely visible in this picture. The cars have no relevance whatsoever.
Finally, in the newly limited zone is the Los Angeles neighborhood of South Carthay, also covered by McFerrin. Then, of course, there’s Beverly Hills. The locals call this area “the bad part”. Olympic does not have the mid-rise office buildings of Wilshire Boulevard or the tony storefronts of the diagonal roads. Olympic serves its purpose: for people to contribute to Beverly Hills’s sales tax base by buying goods and services affordable to people who don’t live in 90210. Line 728 passengers can go to to the park where Metro holds its Westside/Central service sector meetings, the BP-run gasoline boutique at Robertson and a supermarket at Beverly Drive.
BP, the international petrochemical concern that brought you Arco, presents Helios House. Because, yeah, up until now there was no way for gasoline to make a fashion statement. It’s fuel with a conscience!
The tour concludes with Century City, the downtown of the westside. And just like downtown L.A., 728 slows down even though it makes very few stops. The first stop is at the hospital, then via Santa Monica Boulevard before laying over at Avenue of the Stars and Constellation, at the rear entrance of Westfield Century City. Line 728 doesn’t take advantage of the two-block bus-only lane available for eastbound buses. Yes, there is one (!), but only utilized by lines 4 and 704.
The mall and high-rises of Century City as seen from Santa Monica Boulevard.
This is the eastbound bus lane, about two blocks long, used by lines 4 and 704. It is in the middle of the street. Amenities are an uncovered bus bench. If this is to be a template for bus-only lanes on Wilshire Boulevard, keep in mind this two-block bus-only lane (there is no equivalent for the other direction) was made possible through a hundred-million dollar road consolidation project that took close to 10 years to complete.
With all of this and more on Olympic, what did the improved-and-not-new 728 attract in its second day of service? This trip, end-to-end about 55 minutes, had 49 passengers. Respectable activity for a mid-day trip, but a third was from L.A. High kids. The artics are a big help for the large school crowds, but are otherwise too large for 728. The artics are not too large to go inside Patsaouras Transit Plaza, as some of the new batch is now on line 740.
Line 728 is still similar in style and substance to 328, even with just three stops in Beverly Hills. And while 728 was a blatant regift, every present has some redeeming value. We do get mid-day service after all, and believe it or not, the signal transponders worked for the bus better in Beverly Hills than within L.A. city limits! Mileage may vary during rush hours.
Happy holidays, y’all.
Bus 9543 turns at Avenue of the Stars and Constellation Avenue, in front of the mall and the MGM tower.
Discussion
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Please keep discussions civil: exercise Troll Controll.
Funny thing is, I don’t think Big Blue Bus #10 stops at Vignes and C. Chavez. BBB 10 is also now not cool enough to go into Patsaouras Transit Plaza-you have to schlep all the way to the Olivera Street Steps.
Also, regarding Santa Monica Blvd taking 10 years to “fix”…Really now, how long has it been since Red Car service was discontinued so that the road(s) could be widened? More like 50 years?
yes the Big Blue now stops at
I don’t think Big Blue Bus #10 stops at Vignes and C. Chavez.
its their first stop since they also
abadon the plaza (according to Big Blue bus -they had two accideents
in the plaza plus all the turns into and out of the plaza slowed the bus down -making them late
OK! Thanks Mark for the correction!
Still, if you are coming off of Amtrak or MegaBus with bags, the Plaza sure was a nice place to catch it.
Oh well.
Except for the one in the food court of Glendale Galleria…
Regional buses like the 10 and Rapids not going into Union Station ? So much for intermodal connections !
Can someone explain why Olympic got rapid service before Venice? The 33/333 are packed every rush hour. I would actually take the bus if it wasn’t so crowded. Most of the evening eastbound buses are full by the time they get to Venice/National. And by “full” I don’t mean no seats; I mean people are packed onto the stairways, and they don’t even bother stopping.
Chris, Venice Boulevard has 333 service seven days a week.
It already has Rapid bus service. Limited is the same thing.
Limited isn’t quite the same thing. Rapids are limited stop for the whole length (not just the limited stop section of the route), plus they are at least supposed to get signal priority that the limiteds do not get.
Also, it seems that Metro is more likely to run the articulated buses on Rapid routes, which from what I have used of 33/333, it needs it.
With the number of people on the route, they would probably also run the Rapid until later in the day (instead of the last one leaving at around 6:30p).
So they are not the same thing. While they may have some similarities, the 33/333 route probably would benefit from Rapid service vs the current limited setup.
Matthew wrote:
Limited isn’t quite the same thing. Rapids are limited stop for the whole length (not just the limited stop section of the route), plus they are at least supposed to get signal priority that the limiteds do not get.
Right, the signal priority. The magic transponder. Buses can get green lights, but you just have to believe that they’re green.
LADOT sets the rules about signal priority, not Metro. The buses are supplicants, not priorities. The only street where the transponders work most of the time is Ventura Boulevard, since the service is not at very high frequencies, traffic is light south of Ventura and the stop spacing is wide.
Metro provides limited-stop service seven days a week on 333. And 333 has a limited zone for all of Venice, one of the largest for a 300 line.
Even if Metro put the red buses on there, you will notice no improvement in speed or ride quality if the line was branded Rapid. You’d just get a red bus and tell yourself that the bus is somehow faster.
Also, it seems that Metro is more likely to run the articulated buses on Rapid routes, which from what I have used of 33/333, it needs it.
My efforts to bring artics back to Los Angeles began a decade ago and paid off in 2005, when the first vehicles were put in service.
Metro is coming up on 400 artics, and has put the 9400s in orange paint, and are running on lines 4, 204 and 233. Despite NABI designing the buses for BRT, nothing precludes them from being used in local service.
Line 33 was one of the lines I had suggested for artics. I had originally estimated Metro buying a fleet of 500 to 600 60-footers, but I was not expecting the Rapid network to absorb most of them.
With the number of people on the route, they would probably also run the Rapid until later in the day (instead of the last one leaving at around 6:30p).
Even Wilshire used to end early in the evening, and later service was gradually added a few years after 2000.
The reason why Rapids end service so early is that there’s not much of a need for limited-stop service past dusk. Remember, the local is still available. And, 720 got late night service because the last evening buses were full. If, on other Rapids, the last buses are unproductive, they’re not getting later service.
So they are not the same thing. While they may have some similarities, the 33/333 route probably would benefit from Rapid service vs the current limited setup.
Line 333 already has 7-day service. All but a few run during weekday rush-hours only. Line 333 already has a limited stop zone across Venice.
Not too big of a payoff.
I’ve been asking this question as a Sector governance member for the past 2 years.
Right now the issue is that they don’t have enough facilities to acutally operate local artics for the 33-333. Believe me they would love to do that because this one of the few bus routes whose average trip distance is close to many rail corridors.
As an interim I’m going to suggest having the 33-333 artics come from nearby sister bus division yards like #1 and #3 in order to reduce dead-end time for buses to use the other facilities yet still provide the needed service for this corridor.
Jerard Wright wrote:
As an interim I’m going to suggest having the 33-333 artics come from nearby sister bus division yards like #1 and #3 in order to reduce dead-end time for buses to use the other facilities yet still provide the needed service for this corridor.
Does this cause a problem with sector governance? Division 3 is San Gabriel Valley and Division 1 is Gateway. Line 33 is under your jurisdiction, and you have two active and one satellite divisions.
The problem that I have heard from a friend of mine who works in planning is that the divisions in your sector can’t absorb too many more artics, but the South Bay can and it doesn’t need that many. Metro actually wanted to put them on Line 115, which would have meant reducing service to 18-20 minutes from the present 15.
Plus, how many more artics is Metro going to be receiving? The 9400s were options. Were the 9500s additional options or a new purchase order?
From what I’m hearing our sector isn’t taking any more artics. But this isn’t a problem with the other sectors because ironically the 728 artics are coming out of Division 3. And what gave me the original idea is that the 740’s operated out of Division 3 for a while before being turned over to the 751 Soto Rapid.
The problem with the South Bay Sector are the increased dead-head times between the route and the facilities especially if they have to go all the way to Carson.
Just to mention, if Metro did put artics on the 33/333 route, then my main issue with limited vs. rapid goes away. It just seems to me that Metro usually likes putting the artics on the Rapid routes before they put them on local/limited routes (even though that isn’t always the case, like the 4).
Matthew wrote:
Just to mention, if Metro did put artics on the 33/333 route, then my main issue with limited vs. rapid goes away. It just seems to me that Metro usually likes putting the artics on the Rapid routes before they put them on local/limited routes (even though that isn’t always the case, like the 4).
Metro’s hesitant with artics.
The RTD’s experience with the MANs was lousy. And when Socata brought the issue to Metro in 1998, Metro essentially evaluated artics on a set of criteria to ensure it would not have to purchase them. All the while, Metro was testing the buses but not in revenue service.
I was very critical of the initial study. Metro later on reevaluated the artics, but still resisted because artics degrade service performance. They are slower, but not necessarily because the vehicles are larger. The slowness is due to the added passenger volumes. The bigger issue was storage, at both divisions and at layover zones.
Metro was very open to running artics on enhanced services. Interestingly, Metro gave a very favorable rating for artics on the Harbor Transitway. I kid you not. Using Metro’s criteria, artics would have gone on the service notorious for having the productivity of deadhead runs.
When this was going on, there were no plans for Rapid or the Orange Line. But as Metro was ramping up for the opening of the Orange Line, it created a need for the artics, and Metro seen that some Rapid lines had the ridership that supported/needed artics, so the initial testing went on Vermont and Western avenues’ Rapids. Then it was a slow build to Wilshire and Van Nuys boulevards six months later. Then, Metro tried some orange Rapids on 204 and 233.
It’s still a work in progress, and I don’t blame Metro for doing a slow burn with the artics.
What riders don’t seem to know is that mechanically, the 60-BRTs are crap. They perform poorly for new buses, but as I have researched with the 1970s MAN artics, first-generation vehicles have the most problems. When a bus manufacturer builds enough buses to make the model viable, the later models become better.
Which is slower, a non-artic that becomes completely full and where people constantly have to squeeze through other people to board or disembark completely, or the artic on the same route?
On another note, something needs to be done if buses are regularly passing people up on a route because it is completely full, whether running double buses or artics, although Metro doesn’t seem inclined to do either on the 33/333 route.
Just out of curiousity, what about the 60-BRTs are crap mechanically?
The 60-BRTs are crushingly slow, just like the first-generation 40′ and 45′ CNG buses. The newer 45′ CNGs, which can be seen on 704 and a few other rapid lines (and 577X, if memory serves), have much better acceleration because of more powerful engines.
Bad news Peter, Santa Monica Boulevard is all artics now, on both locals and Rapids.
As for the speed, artics are noticeably slower. Then again, they are on lines where they won’t be able to get much speed. Foothill’s Silver Streak artics accelerate slowly from idling but have no trouble maintaining freeway speeds. The suspension, though, is shaky on smooth surfaces beginning at around 40 mph. Wifi might be a great lure but most customers would be pissed when the laptops bounce out of their hands.
The 45-footers are the fleet numbers 8000-8199. All are red, and all are Metro-operated. Line 577 has blue NABIs, and it is contract-operated by Southland Transit.
You can find the 45-footers regularly on lines 745 and 780, as well as on oddball Harbor Transitway express buses, and occasionally on Rapid lines 705 and 710. By the way, NABI dropped the 45-BRT because of poor sales. Metro and Valley Metro of Phoenix were the only customers.