MTA Wants 100 More Rapid Buses for Wilshire Route

Transit officials pushed forward a plan this week to buy more Rapid Buses for the popular Wilshire Boulevard route, and convert a traffic lane to a buses-only lane as a test case.

The $232-million plan approved by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority board calls for the replacement of the current Wilshire fleet with about 100 of the new Rapid Buses within three years. It would increase total capacity by about 30%.

The Rapid Bus line on Wilshire, the MTA’s busiest line just two years after its inception, extends 26 miles from Santa Monica to Montebello and is designed to reduce trip times by about 25%.

Also used on Ventura Boulevard in the San Fernando Valley, Rapid Buses have special sensors that extend green traffic signals and low floors for faster boarding. Drivers are not held to a schedule but are told to drive the route as fast as they safely and legally can. The popular buses are full during rush hours, and many riders must stand.

The buses the MTA now wants to buy will have two cabins instead of one and will hold 60 passengers rather than the current 40. The cabins would be connected together by a flexible, accordion-like section. The MTA, which is looking for a manufacturer to make the buses, wants its new fleet to be environmentally friendly, electric powered and quieter than current vehicles.

Aside from purchasing the new buses, the MTA plan calls for repaving parts of Wilshire, making streets flatter and smoother, and for expanding the size of bus stops.

The MTA will also, for the first time, designate a bus-only lane on a one-mile section of the route near the San Diego Freeway on Los Angeles’ west side. That lane will be for buses only during peak periods and will be used as a test case.

The lane will be watched closely by the MTA, which hopes to add rush hour, bus-only lanes throughout Wilshire. The agency is eager to see how such lanes affect parking, and hopes to figure out how to keep cars from encroaching on the lanes and get a better sense of how such lanes may speed travel.

“Our most recent studies show that if, during rush hours, you don’t have the bottlenecks ... we can attract a lot more people to transit,” said MTA planner David Mieger, referring to the bus lane.

Resident and business groups along Wilshire have clashed with the MTA in the past several years over plans floated by the agency to create bus lanes separated by curbs from other traffic, with the lanes possibly running down the middle of Wilshire. Some worry that a permanent, fixed lane would lead to more car traffic and hurt businesses by taking away street parking.

Planners at the agency have long said that such a design would allow for optimum speeds and do the most to alleviate congestion. Mieger said that for the time being, given the negative reaction from the public, MTA planners have put such plans aside. Solving the Wilshire traffic puzzle is one of the transit agency’s highest priorities. Wilshire is one of the most congested corridors in the nation. MTA buses are relied on heavily, providing rides for about 40,000 people each day.