Gold Line emulator can’t cut it, so Metro will

That sign at the top may become a hot seller on eBay come Monday.
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Just as quickly as Metro Line 632 came into existence, much of it is already going away … and it has only been in service for a week.
Metro is cutting back 632 to within Los Angeles city limits effective Monday. The line will only travel from Union Station to Indiana Station. Passengers wishing to go between Indiana and Atlantic/Pomona stations must transfer to Montebello Bus Line 40.
Discussion
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I never understood the “Gold Line emulator” idea. People are waiting for a train route to be completed, not a bus route.
I rode it today. The heavy pickup is at Little Tokyo, where folks who take the short line 30/31 trips are left waiting to continue going east. They of course board the 632 expecting it serves the same stops as the 30/31. That it only serves stops adjacent to the future Gold Line stations cause headaches for the operators.
Obviously they didn’t vet this w/Montebello. I’ll be curious whether Aurora Jackson, Director of Transportation for the City of Montebello, says anything about the situation when she speaks at the SO.CA.TA meeting next Saturday.
This is a far from optimal situation. Stop locations are often out of the way and not easy to find. Passenger confusion and operator frustration seems to be caused by having a limited stop bus with nearly zero advance notice running along the route of a long established local. Metro should have gone with its original plan to keep running the 30/31 via change letters at the historic level of service until the Gold Line extension opens in a few months. Despite the best of intentions this isn’t working.
BTW, the page on the Metro website about the 632 has been updated to reflect the changes that start Monday. But the link to it on the website has been pulled, maybe because the map has yet to be adjusted…
http://www.metro.net/riding_metro/bus_overview/line_632.htm
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