Big Blue Bus

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Big Blue Bus

Slogan	The Smart Commute
Founded	1928
Headquarters	Santa Monica, California
Locale	Santa Monica, Westwood, and Venice, California
Service area	United States
Service type	Transit bus, Bus rapid transit
Routes	18
Fleet	240
Daily ridership	56,283 (2005)[1]
Fuel type	Diesel, LNG
Operator	City of Santa Monica, California
Web site	bigbluebus.com

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 and adjacent neighborhoods of Los Angeles. Recently the Big Blue Bus started its own bus rapid transit line.

Contents 1 History 2 Bus Fleet 2.1 Active 3 Route listings 4 Big Blue Buses in popular culture 4.1 Speed 4.2 Jimmy Kimmel Live! 5 External links 6 References

[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. Schedules for the buses are also less frequent when compared to some Metro lines (especially the Rapids).

The Big Blue Bus was one of the last transit agencies using the GMC New Look buses; they were retired in 2005. The only remaining new look in the fleet is #5180, which was the last bus built by GM.

The system was started by former Brentwood resident Ruldolph F. Brunner, who later sold the system thinking it wouldn't amount to any more than a few dollars a week.

[edit] Bus Fleet

[edit] Active

Model	Length (feet)	Year	Bus Numbers	Fleet total	Fuel Type	Notes
MCI TC40102A Classic	40'	1988-1990	5181-5210	30	Diesel	1
NovaBus TC40102A Classic	40'	1995	4801-4821	19	Diesel
New Flyer D40LF	40'	1997-1998	3801-3867	67	Diesel	2
Thomas Built Buses SLF 230	30'	2001	2606-2615	10	Diesel	3
NABI 40-LFW	40'	2002	4001-4037	37	LNG	4
MCI D4500	45'	2002	5501-5504	4	Diesel	5
New Flyer L40LF	40'	2004-2005	4038-4089	61	LNG	6
New Flyer L40LF	40'	2007	4090-4099	10	LNG

Notes:

1. Many retired, including 4951-4960. Some retired have been used on services other than Big Blue Bus
2. Some of these buses are powered on biofuel
3. 3 are used for the Tide shuttle service, the other 7 are used on the shorter "neighborhood" lines because of their short length and tighter turning radius. These buses run on biofuel and are painted in special metallic blue paint with "mini blue" text for the mini blue lines.
4. Originally ordered to be 40C-LFWs, but order changed to standard 40-LFWs.
5. Used for charter services.
6. 4078,4080-4089 have a special livery and signal priority transceivers for use on the Rapid 3 line.

[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	5:00-24:00
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
6 / SMC Commuter	Venice Boulevard/ Culver Boulevard	Santa Monica College Main Campus	8:15-10:05 Southbound; 13:36-19:40 Northbound (no weekend service)
8	Santa Monica Place	Ocean Park Blvd. / National Blvd. / Westwood Blvd.	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
Mini Blue Crosstown (Former Line 11)	14th & Pearl	14th St & 20th St	20th & Montana	6:59-22:10
12	UCLA Terminal	Robertson Blvd./ Palms Blvd. / National Blvd. / Westwood Blvd.	Olympic Boulevard / La Cienega Boulevard	6:00-23:00
Super 12 / UCLA Commuter	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
Mini Blue Tide Shuttle	Marine & Neilson	4th Street/ocean ave./main st.	Santa Monica & 7th	12:00-20:00 (Sun.-Thu.), 12:00-22:02 (Fri. & Sat.)
Mini Blue Sunset	Airport & Bundy	West Ocean Park Bl.	Colorado & 20th	7:00-18:00

[edit] Big Blue Buses in popular culture

[edit] Speed

Main article: Speed (film)

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] Jimmy Kimmel Live!

In an episode that originally aired on May 15, 2007, the ABC late-night show, Jimmy Kimmel Live, was filmed on a New Flyer L40LF model LNG bus. In this episode, titled Jimmy Kimmel Live on a Bus, Kimmel sat behind the desk, which was rigged to fit in a bus. This particular Santa Monica Big Blue Bus that was used in the episode was driven by veteran bus driver Erskins Robinson, who picked up unsuspecting passengers along his route. The celebrity guests who appeared in the Jimmy Kimmel Live on a Bus episode were Paula Abdul, Flavor Flav, and musical guest Feist.

[edit] External links

• Big Blue Bus homepage
• Google Map of Routes

[edit] References