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Post by jeisenbe on Sept 8, 2010 23:28:24 GMT -8
Inspired by www.humantransit.org/2010/09/montreal-the-pleasure-of-maps-by-hand.htmlthis post at Human Transit, I made a map of high-frequency transit service in Long Beach: maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=102764232639575421873.00048fcb904e3f388832f&ll=33.812529,-118.155899&spn=0.139204,0.209084&z=12 It turns out there are several areas with buses every 10 minutes or less, throughout the day, and the central part of the city is pretty well covered by 15-minute buses (as I remembered). I showed differences in frequency by line width and opacity; color is just used to distinguish different lines. There are a couple of lines that used to be more frequent which I also included, for completeness, but as thin, gray lines. Even 15 minute bus service is a stretch for a frequent network (who wants to wait 15 minutes for the next bus, if you've just missed one?), but a 10 or 12 minute map would be too scanty. Compare to the only officially available LB Transit map, which is a mess: lbtransit.com/Schedules/pdf/map_system.pdfAnd the routes on the Metro "12-minute" map, which misses a few areas of better-than 12-minute service (due to interlining): www.metro.net/riding_metro/maps/images/12_min_map.pdfThere is a actually a good LB Transit system map, with different colors for each line, posted at Blue Line stations and major bus stops, but it's not on the website. Does anyone have a copy? Anyone want to do a frequent service map for Metro, or for all of LA county? Easier projects would include Santa Monica or Pasadena.
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Post by James Fujita on Sept 9, 2010 0:38:43 GMT -8
I've always admired Long Beach's Passport buses.
They always seem much more useful and frequent than the downtown DASH service, and heavily used since most of the shuttle lines are free. And Long Beach has tossed a lot of money at their downtown, and the results show clearly (at least, as far as the waterfront and parts of Pine are concerned).
On the other hand, I can't imagine it can be cheap to run free shuttles like that at all times of the day, and I do wonder if they're favoring the Passport and the Aquabus over other fixes and improvements they could make (TAP, maybe? Or more frequent bus service to CSULB, North Long Beach, San Pedro?)
Still, that is a nice map.... nice job, jeisenbe....
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Post by ieko on Sept 9, 2010 8:16:47 GMT -8
Inspired by www.humantransit.org/2010/09/montreal-the-pleasure-of-maps-by-hand.htmlthis post at Human Transit, I made a map of high-frequency transit service in Long Beach: maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=102764232639575421873.00048fcb904e3f388832f&ll=33.812529,-118.155899&spn=0.139204,0.209084&z=12 It turns out there are several areas with buses every 10 minutes or less, throughout the day, and the central part of the city is pretty well covered by 15-minute buses (as I remembered). I showed differences in frequency by line width and opacity; color is just used to distinguish different lines. There are a couple of lines that used to be more frequent which I also included, for completeness, but as thin, gray lines. Even 15 minute bus service is a stretch for a frequent network (who wants to wait 15 minutes for the next bus, if you've just missed one?), but a 10 or 12 minute map would be too scanty. Compare to the only officially available LB Transit map, which is a mess: lbtransit.com/Schedules/pdf/map_system.pdfAnd the routes on the Metro "12-minute" map, which misses a few areas of better-than 12-minute service (due to interlining): www.metro.net/riding_metro/maps/images/12_min_map.pdfThere is a actually a good LB Transit system map, with different colors for each line, posted at Blue Line stations and major bus stops, but it's not on the website. Does anyone have a copy? Anyone want to do a frequent service map for Metro, or for all of LA county? Easier projects would include Santa Monica or Pasadena. You missed Torrance Transit Line 3 (runs every 15 minutes M-F)
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Post by jamesinclair on Sept 9, 2010 20:03:09 GMT -8
Great map
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Post by jeisenbe on Sept 9, 2010 22:43:59 GMT -8
You missed Torrance Transit Line 3 (runs every 15 minutes M-F) Thanks! I will add that before posting a copy. I didn't realize Torrance had any frequent service.
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Post by ieko on Sept 9, 2010 23:09:10 GMT -8
Thanks, I think lol...
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Post by jeisenbe on Sept 9, 2010 23:41:26 GMT -8
I've always admired Long Beach's Passport buses. They always seem much more useful and frequent than the downtown DASH service, and heavily used since most of the shuttle lines are free. And Long Beach has tossed a lot of money at their downtown, and the results show clearly (at least, as far as the waterfront and parts of Pine are concerned). On the other hand, I can't imagine it can be cheap to run free shuttles like that at all times of the day, and I do wonder if they're favoring the Passport and the Aquabus over other fixes and improvements they could make (TAP, maybe? Or more frequent bus service to CSULB, North Long Beach, San Pedro?) The Passport buses were originally 1 or 2 downtown-only routes with free service. The Passport C still offers service every 10 minutes from 8th and Pine, south to the waterfront and across the bridge to the Queen Mary. Unfortunately, it's route deviates several times to get to attractions like the Aquarium and Shoreline Village which are off the main route, so it is a slow trip. The other Passport buses, while being useful for tourists, and also free in the Downtown area west of Alamitos Avenue, also serve as standard bus service. Our local bus on 4th used to be a 181 / 182 bus, but now the Passport B has been changed to cover this service. The main difference is the color and size of the bus, and also the free service downtown; it is still every 20 minutes. The A and D Passport buses run to Belmont Shore every 15 minutes. At PCH they split, north and south; the Passport D serves CSULB and is popular with students who live near Belmont Shore or Alamitos Beach. I agree that the 90's (on 7th street) need more service, which could best be added by extending the hours of the 96 limited-stop "ZAP" buses, and running them both ways. But I don't think any of the Passport buses have enough service spare. The C is the only one that has more frequent service that strictly necessary, but if it was any less frequent it would not be very useful, considering the short route and slow speeds. As it is, I usually walk from the end of the Passport B route, rather than transferring to the C, to get to places along the route. One minor improvement with a big dividend would be to extend the Passport B, and the 45 or 46 bus on Anaheim, all the way to CSULB. Both these routes end a couple miles short of the campus, so if you want to ride the bus to the school you have to live near 7th street (90's), Ocean (for the D), or PCH (171). A direct connection from 4th or Anaheim would open up larger areas for fast bus service to the school.
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Post by ieko on Sept 10, 2010 10:14:23 GMT -8
I rode the 90's a few times in the past two weeks and it seemed to have enough service.
What's interesting about Long Beach is that their limited stop services have not proved popular, from what I understand it's due to the simple fact that most people want local stops there.
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Post by jeisenbe on Sept 10, 2010 22:46:23 GMT -8
I rode the 90's a few times in the past two weeks and it seemed to have enough service. What's interesting about Long Beach is that their limited stop services have not proved popular, from what I understand it's due to the simple fact that most people want local stops there. Unlike the Metro Rapid's, Long Beach's limited stop services have only been one-way, and only during peak hours. Honestly, many of the people riding the 90's don't seem to realize that the 96 is limited stop. My wife says there area often people surprised when the 96 does not let them off where they expect. Running the limited-stop buses all day, and expanding the service to Long Beach Blvd and Atlantic Blvd would help make the service more intelligible and usable. Better branding, like the bright red Metro Rapid buses and unique bus stops, would also help. But it is also true that Long Beach is smaller than Los Angeles, and most trips are going to be shorter. And if people are on long trips, it will usually be via the Blue Line to LA. The really underserved market is longer trips to the South Bay or Orange County. A limited-stop BRT service to Santa Ana or Anaheim (as was planned with the Bravo BRT, until recently) would really help, and more express buses to Orange County, Santa Monica and the South Bay would be nice. I also think Long Beach could deserve an LAX Fly-Away bus, which would make me much more likely to use that airport, since the Blue Line - Green Line - Shuttle trip is pretty long and somewhat confusing for tourists. And I wish Amtrak was allowed to sell seats on its buses without a rail connection, that direct bus to Union Station is a nice deal, until the Regional Connector is finished.
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