Why are most of the lines in the South Bay...

[ieko]

Today i realized something, most of the lines in the South Bay that are run by the MTA are contracted out. Essentially only the 4XX, 550, 7XX aren't, how come?

And why not put the stop announcement system in these contracted busses? From what I understand Metro owns the Orion VI's that run on these routes.

[wad]

I can answer the first part of the question. Metro picked the routes for contract back in the mid-1990s because the routes had characteristics of high subsidies and low performance. The contractors can operate the buses cheaper, but the service is noticeably worse. However, Metro is loath to bring the routes in-house because it would mean the lines would have to be canceled or lose weekend service.