elray
Junior Member
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Post by elray on May 5, 2011 17:33:33 GMT -8
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Post by Dan Wentzel on Aug 30, 2011 8:33:54 GMT -8
The articulated Rapid 7 buses are now in service on Pico.
Yesterday they were stuffed to capacity as the rode by as I waited for my local #7.
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Post by Dan Wentzel on Feb 3, 2012 9:09:17 GMT -8
Good news. Beginning Monday, February 13, the Rapid 7 Big Blue Bus will be stopping at Avenue of the Stars.
When the Rapid 7 went online, the stop at Beverly Dr. was eliminated. This left a LONG stretch between Westwood Blvd. and Robertson Blvd. with no stop in between. The Local 7 riders experience is steep decline in service in jam packed buses.
The advantage of a stop at Avenue of the Stars is that is allows a quick ride from the Purple Line or Santa Monica to Century City, assuming you don't mind a 10 minute walk from Avenue of the Stars to your destination (and most public transit riders would be happy to have only a 10 minute walk).
It is an interesting outside-the-box solution and I am curious to see how it will pay out.
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Post by bzcat on Feb 3, 2012 11:06:59 GMT -8
I had been working with BBB for 2 years now to get this stop implemented. Things started to roll once I worked my way to the Century City Chamber of Commerce. It really helped when they started writing letters instead of just me, a lowly bus rider.
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Post by Dan Wentzel on Feb 17, 2012 9:22:36 GMT -8
I had been working with BBB for 2 years now to get this stop implemented. Things started to roll once I worked my way to the Century City Chamber of Commerce. It really helped when they started writing letters instead of just me, a lowly bus rider. Well, THANK YOU! I used this stop this morning on the Rapid 7. Both the Rapid 7 and the Local 7 were stuffed to capacity Monday and Tuesday morning and were passing stops without picking up passengers. People were screaming at drivers "You're the fourth bus not to pick us up" and "Please let me on, I've been waiting 45 minutes". "Give the people what they want and they'll show up" goes the old show business adage. Well, people WANT more service on this corridor and as this is the primary transit method to access Santa Monica College (until the Expo Line Phase 2 opens), it appears more people are showing up than the Big Blue Bus has the capacity to handle. Next up, bus only lanes on Pico. But that's a whole other battle with a whole different set of NIMBY's than Expo Phase 2. |
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Post by bzcat on Feb 17, 2012 11:16:22 GMT -8
We need bigger buses!
I took Rapid 7 on Wednesday to avoid driving while Obama was in town. I guess plenty of other people had the same idea as I noticed the buses were noticeably more packed than usual in the morning. At one point, I estimated there were about 100 people in my Rapid 7... 53 seats plus 50 standee. It's clear that Pico can use bigger capacity buses during rush hours.
I wonder what it will take to allow 65ft or even 80ft buses on the road. Probably easier than fighting NIMBYs for bus lanes on Pico.
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elray
Junior Member
Posts: 84
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Post by elray on Feb 17, 2012 16:00:14 GMT -8
Both the Rapid 7 and the Local 7 were stuffed to capacity Monday and Tuesday morning and were passing stops without picking up passengers. People were screaming at drivers "You're the fourth bus not to pick us up" and "Please let me on, I've been waiting 45 minutes". "Give the people what they want and they'll show up" goes the old show business adage. Well, people WANT more service on this corridor and as this is the primary transit method to access Santa Monica College (until the Expo Line Phase 2 opens), it appears more people are showing up than the Big Blue Bus has the capacity to handle. Next up, bus only lanes on Pico. But that's a whole other battle with a whole different set of NIMBY's than Expo Phase 2. On Monday, I overheard an infernal racket from down on the corner. Salty language that would make a sailor blush. It went on for some 45 minutes. I thought, "oh, 5150, business as usual.". But it went on, and on, and I started to make out the word "Rapid" between color metaphors. So I went to observe - an elderly gentleman, with his walker, looking longingly down Pico. I watched, as *7* (more?) coaches passed, and I held my ears. I've seen this scene before. If history is any indicator, Big Blue lost a patron for good, and he will join my other life-time bus-riding neighbors, who gave up and bought a car. Probably most of this phenomenon can be explained by failure-to-plan for super-peak days, like SMC opening week. |
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Post by LAofAnaheim on Feb 17, 2012 16:16:31 GMT -8
Both the Rapid 7 and the Local 7 were stuffed to capacity Monday and Tuesday morning and were passing stops without picking up passengers. People were screaming at drivers "You're the fourth bus not to pick us up" and "Please let me on, I've been waiting 45 minutes". "Give the people what they want and they'll show up" goes the old show business adage. Well, people WANT more service on this corridor and as this is the primary transit method to access Santa Monica College (until the Expo Line Phase 2 opens), it appears more people are showing up than the Big Blue Bus has the capacity to handle. Next up, bus only lanes on Pico. But that's a whole other battle with a whole different set of NIMBY's than Expo Phase 2. On Monday, I overheard an infernal racket from down on the corner. Salty language that would make a sailor blush. It went on for some 45 minutes. I thought, "oh, 5150, business as usual.". But it went on, and on, and I started to make out the word "Rapid" between color metaphors. So I went to observe - an elderly gentleman, with his walker, looking longingly down Pico. I watched, as *7* (more?) coaches passed, and I held my ears. I've seen this scene before. If history is any indicator, Big Blue lost a patron for good, and he will join my other life-time bus-riding neighbors, who gave up and bought a car. Probably most of this phenomenon can be explained by failure-to-plan for super-peak days, like SMC opening week. How about the people who had to endure hours and hours long traffic on the I-10 freeway due to Caltrans failure to notify people of road closures? Don't you think they lost some car drivers that day who are now hopping on planes? 45 minutes of passed buses.........or hours of long traffic due to unexpected congestion/traffic? S*** happens, no matter what mode you pick at times. |
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elray
Junior Member
Posts: 84
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Post by elray on Feb 22, 2012 16:28:05 GMT -8
How about the people who had to endure hours and hours long traffic on the I-10 freeway due to Caltrans failure to notify people of road closures? Don't you think they lost some car drivers that day who are now hopping on planes? 45 minutes of passed buses.........or hours of long traffic due to unexpected congestion/traffic? S*** happens, no matter what mode you pick at times. Caltrans didn't fail to notify of road closures. They forgot to order cement. Oops! Losing drivers to planes - does that really concern you? Agreed, s*** happens, no matter what - but in the case of opening week at SMC, s*** doesn't "happen", it is predictable, and Big Blue, by now, knows very well to schedule extra runs - which I suspect they did, but inadequately. The general public doesn't (yet) have a very good opinion of bus transit, with good reason. If that is to improve, and thus, garner support for the likes of Measure R2, service levels need to accommodate, not frustrate. "S*** happens" should be reserved for circumstances that are truly beyond the control of the agency, not used as a catch-all excuse. |
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Post by bzcat on Jun 27, 2014 9:42:16 GMT -8
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Post by Dan Wentzel on Jul 2, 2014 9:50:31 GMT -8
Today there were 30 people at Fairfax/Pico not able to catch a Local 7 or Rapid 7 because buses were not stopping because of overcrowding. People were angrily screaming at a bus driver who stopped to allow a couple of people stuff themselves into the front area with members of the crowd who had been waiting a long time screaming at him.
Do we need to just admit that the Big Blue Bus just doesn't have the resources necessary to adequately serve this corridor.
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Post by bzcat on Jul 2, 2014 9:58:27 GMT -8
I would say the issue on Pico is not frequency but capacity. BBB needs to run 60ft buses on both Line 7 and Rapid 7 during peak morning and evening hours. That's the only way to solve the overcrowding issue in the middle of the route.
But they just don't have enough 60ft buses.
The overcrowding on Pico is going to get a lot worse when Expo line opens. Westwood and Sepulveda station will dump hundreds of riders on Line 7 every 5 or 6 minutes.
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