Big Blue Bus
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- For other bus operators known as Blue Bus, see Blue Bus (Disambiguation)
The Big Blue Bus is a municipal bus operator in Los Angeles Westside, USA, mostly serving Santa Monica, Westwood, and Venice. Recently the Big Blue Bus started its own Bus Rapid Transit line.
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[edit] History
In 1928, the City of Santa Monica launched their first route. Choosing a blue livery, it was originally called Santa Monica Municipal Bus Lines. It kept their base fare at 10 cents for an extensive period of time. The impetus for the creation was a fare increase on the Pacific Electric interurban trains between Santa Monica and Los Angeles. The Santa Monica bus would connect with the Los Angeles Railway streetcars at Pico and Rimpau Boulevards in the Mid-City section of Los Angeles. That historic terminus point has become an important transit center in Los Angeles simply because it is the point where thousands of bus riders along Pico Boulevard must transfer to continue their trips eastward to Downtown Los Angeles or westward to the Westside.
The Big Blue Bus is considered one of the best bus services in the Los Angeles area. The system won the American Public Transportation Association’s Outstanding Transportation System award in 1987, 1992, 1997 and 2000. The Big Blue Bus did not raise its regular fare above 50 cents until 2002, when it became 75 cents. In contrast, most public bus lines in California were charging fares of a dollar or more well before 2000. On the other hand, there is no monthly pass except for the EZ Pass, and unlike all other EZ Pass agencies, Metrolink tickets are not accepted.
The Big Blue Bus is one of the last transit agencies using the GMC New Look buses. They were retired in 2005.
[edit] Logos
 Big Blue Bus logo from 1990s to 2000s |
 The Present Big Blue Bus logo, used since 2000s |
[edit] Active / Future Fleet
The first two digits of the bus number are the number of seats on each bus.
| Model | Length (feet) | Year | Bus Numbers | Fleet total | Fuel Type | Notes | |
| New Flyer D40LF | 40' | 1997-1998 | 3801-3867 | 67 | Diesel | ||
| New Flyer L40LF | 40' | 2004-2005 | 4038-4089 | 51 | LNG | 2 | |
| NABI 40-LFW | 40' | 2002 | 4001-4037 | 37 | LNG | 3 | |
| MCI TC40102A Classic | 40' | 1988-1990 | 5181-5210 | 30 | Diesel | 1 | |
| MCI D4500 | 45' | 2002 | 5501-5504 | 4 | Diesel | ||
| NovaBus TC40102A Classic | 40' | 1995 | 4801-4821 | 21 | Diesel | ||
| Thomas Built Buses SLF 230 | 20' | 2001 | 2606-2615 | 10 | Diesel |
1 Many retired, including 4951-4960. Some retired have been used on services other than Big Blue Bus
2 Some used on Rapid 3 lines. 3 Originally ordered to be 40C-LFWs, but order changed to standard 40-LFWs.
[edit] Route listings
All services unless otherwise noted run daily.
| Route Name | Terminal A | Streets Traveled | Terminal B | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | UCLA Terminal | Santa Monica Boulevard | Venice Beach- Windward Avenue |
5:00-24:00 |
| 2 | UCLA Terminal | Wilshire Boulevard | Venice Boulevard- Walgrove |
6:00-23:00 |
| 3 | UCLA Terminal | Montana Avenue/ Lincoln Boulevard |
Metro Green Line Aviation Station | 5:30-24:00 |
| Rapid 3 | Santa Monica- Wilshire Boulevard |
Lincoln Boulevard | Metro Green Line Aviation station | 6:00-10:00; 14:00-19:00 |
| 4 | Westside Pavilion Mall | San Vicente Boulevard | Santa Monica Civic Center | 6:00-18:00 |
| 5 | Santa Monica- Wilshire Boulevard |
Olympic Boulevard | Century City- Rimpau Transit Center |
5:30-22:00 |
| 7 | Santa Monica Place | Pico Boulevard | Rimpau Transit Center | 4:45-23:45 |
| 8 | Santa Monica Place | Ocean Park Boulevard | UCLA Transit Center | 6:00-22:30 |
| 9 | Pacific Palisades | Sunset Boulevard/ Entrada Drive |
Santa Monica-5th Street | 6:00-22:00 |
| 10 | Santa Monica- 4th Street |
Santa Monica Boulevard/ Santa Monica Freeway Express |
Downtown LA- Union Station/ Patsaouras Plaza |
5:00-20:00 |
| 11 | UCLA Medical Center | 14th/20th Street Loop | Saint John's Hospital | 7:00-18:00 (no weekend service) |
| 12 | UCLA Terminal | Robertson Boulevard/ Westwood Boulevard |
Rimpau Transit Center | 6:00-23:00 |
| Super 12 | UCLA Ackerman Terminal | Westwood Boulevard/ National Boulevard |
Palms-Venice Boulevard | 6:00-10:00 Northbound; 14:00-18:00 Southbound |
| 13 | Westside Pavilion | Pico Boulevard | Rimpau Transit Center | 6:00-9:00 Eastbound; 2:00-5:00 Westbound, no Sunday Service |
| 14 | Westwood Boulevard- Sepulveda Boulevard |
Centinela Avenue | Culver City-Culver Boulevard | 6:00-20:00 |
| VA Commuter | Veterans Hospital | Sawtelle Boulevard/ Pico Boulevard (SB)/ Olympic Boulevard (NB) |
Rimpau Transit Center | 5:54-7:03 Northbound; 15:36-19:07 Southbound |
Most routes run past middle and high schools, and tend to get very filled after school hours. a perfect example would be "the 9", which runs by "Palisades Highschool." The buses that run by at 2:20 and 3:20 (end of 6th and 7th period) almost always get packed due to the large amount of high school students leaving school to go home. Many times, the bus will skip stops before 6th and Wilshire, where many students get off to transfer to various routes, due to the amount of students on board.
[edit] Big Blue Buses in popular culture
[edit] Speed
The most famous Big Blue Bus is probably the one rigged with a bomb in 1994's hit movie Speed. Driving through Los Angeles at rush hour, the driver cannot slow down below 50 mph (80 km/h) or the bomb on the bus will detonate.
The bus operator in the movie is called the Santa Monica Intercity Bus Lines, a barely fictionalized version of the Big Blue Bus's official name, the Santa Monica Municipal Bus Lines. Even more tellingly, the bus in the film is a General Motors "New Look" bus, introduced in 1959 but kept in prominent and active service by Santa Monica until early 2005, long after most other American cities had retired the retro-looking bus.
In another effort to differentiate the movie's bus from any real-world bus, the headsigns on the Speed bus scrolled:
- 33 Downtown L.A.
- via Freeway
However, number 33 buses are operated by Metro, not Big Blue, and run on Venice Boulevard, not the Santa Monica Freeway. The closest thing to the movie bus's routing is Santa Monica's number 10 express route.
The bus number was 2525, not within any equipment number range operated by the real company at that time.
It should also be noted that at the time the movie was released, Santa Monica's GM New Look fleet were the Canadian-built versions with wheelchair lifts; the US-built version were retired in 1990 to make room for the Classics.
[edit] The Doors
The Doors song "The End," which features the lyric "The blue bus is calling us Driver, where you taking us..." is believed to be referring to Santa Monica's Big Blue Buses.
