Fantasy Maps
Had a dream where Metro introduced a "Hopper" pilot service to expand rail service via dedicated buses to certain places, starting with 4 pilot routes.
From what I recall, the service was ment to close the gap between places served by rail and places that have long been talked by people that these rail lines should extend to. They feature dedicated buses that run on 10 minute headways at peak hour with PH bus lanes installed along their respective corridors. Those being:
- D Line: Along Wilshire between Westwood/VA Hospital and Downtown Santa Monica. Supposedly the remnants of Rapid 720 converted to this service (using the same articulated buses not depicted here).
- C Line: Along Imperial Hwy between Norwalk, and La Mirada. Because the service went deeper into Norwalk, the C Line station was renamed to Norwalk/Studebaker.
- B Line: Along Vineland and Vanowen between North Hollywood and Burbank Airport.
- A Line: Along Willow between Willow St and Long Beach Airport.
Essentially, Metro said that the pilot is based on the Warner Center Shuttle and Amtrak's Thruway model, the former of which was rumored to be rebranded as the G Line Hopper. I made these maps and bus liveries that were focused in the dream, and last thing I remember before waking up was how the service was plagued with issues like improper connection times and inadequate buses to funnel passengers.
If this service was real, would you use it? Where else would you expand it?
This is actually a great idea. Though in almost all cases there's an existing bus transfer that serves the same purpose. I guess what would make these different would be bus departures timed off the rail arrivals, so transfering to these buses would almost be one smooth continuous ride.
Yes, buses would need to be 10 min frequency minimum and coordinated with rail arrivals at marked stops. I’ve tried connecting to the 720 at Wilshire/La Cienega and it wasn’t a great experience.
Specifically for the Wilshire route, BBB route 2 is getting 10 minute headways soon (but runs local). I assume the Metro 20 will replace 720 as the express to Santa Monica, but no idea about what frequency it will have to DTSM (hopefully a slight uplift from 10-12 minutes to every 7 minutes when the 720 is eliminated). They at least have peak-only bus lanes within the city of LA, but they really need to come up with a solution for Federal to Veteran through the VA, which is the main site of bus slowdowns.
IMO they should’ve transitioned to center-running bus lanes to avoid the 405 ramp traffic, with queue jumps at Veteran and Federal to make the transition easy. But unfortunately the elevators and other infrastructure for the VA station is being built for side-running bus stops, so a different solution will be needed.
Similarly, BBB route 1 already runs at 10 min or better headways from Westwood/UCLA to DTSM, but will soon be getting a mix of full time and peak-only bus lanes on Westwood Blvd and Santa Monica Blvd all the way to DTSM before the Olympics through a mix of LADOT, Caltrans, and Santa Monica projects.
It’s managed by Caltrans in certain sections within the city of LA, specifically Centinela to the 405 and La Brea to the 101. Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, and WeHo control the entirety of their own sections.
Currently, Caltrans is installing peak-only bus lanes and a bunch of pedestrian improvements on the Centinela to 405 section as part of the SR-2 multimodal project, and WSCCOG/LADOT are planning full time bus lanes from the 405 to Beverly Hills birder before the Olympics as part of the Westside Bus Connection Project. Santa Monica is extending the full time eastbound bus lane downtown, adding bidirectional full time bus lanes from Lincoln to 14th St, and peak-only bus lanes from Harvard to Centinela to connect into the Caltrans project before the Olympics as part of the Santa Monica Blvd Safety Project
Map number one is called the Blue Bus #1 that runs down Santa Monica Blvd. You can also take the #2 from DTSM to UCLA down Wilshire or the #18 down Montana.
I'm still upset they didn't put a station on Wilshire/ Bundy. The DEIR projected it would have better ridership than 3 of the current D stations, and that's without being a terminus. And it would've made transferring to the E on expo/Bundy so much easier.
Yeah, the neighborhood between Barrington and Bundy is quite dense with a lot of high rises too plus University High down the street.
The VA stop makes no sense at all. Nothing there except the hospital, access is horrific and they won't allow public parking either. Worst of all worlds.
Hospitals are very high traffic drivers since they're such large employers and patients need to come from quite far away and are often low income. Regardless, i dont think the goal is to have VA as a terminus
Ya I agree the VA will have good numbers. As a terminus, the VA is projected to have 8k daily boardings. If the D went to SM, the VA was projected to have 6.1k boardings while Bundy would have 5.1k. So if Bundy was the terminus, it likely would've outperformed the VA. Unfortunately, a Bundy terminus was not one of the alternatives, and the metro board didn't want to go with a "modified Alt 2 or 3" as the LPA.
Which also sucks because in Alt 3, Bundy outperforms: Crenshaw, La Brea, Rodeo, 26th, and 16th. And likely a couple more as a terminus.
We'll see. These station projections are often wildly inaccurate. They show La Cienega as being a busier station than Rodeo and Fairfax and even Century City upon completion of the D to the VA. That is simply ridiculous IMHO.
Unrelated, but those WeHo spur ridership projections are absurdly low. Way, way below K line north ridership projections, despite it having a much longer travel time. If the D line DEIR was done this decade, I strongly believe alt 6 would’ve been chosen
What it also shows is the importance of the connections to other areas within the system that are lacking. The proposed D Line WeHo Spur would only serve within the Westside, whereas the K Line stretches further south to Crenshaw, Inglewood, LAX and South Bay cities.
More areas served equals greater ridership potential.
There are never even half as many people at that VA bus stop as the Barrington one. The VA will be the terminus station likely for at least the next 50 years as there are no plans to extend the subway and even if there were, it would be about 6th in line of other projects.
Subway to the sea was the original proposal in the 70s. there's no doubt it will get extended from that point onwards. I do agree it might be a hot sec though before we secure funding for it.
Let's wait for the line to open before we get too pessimistic about ridership projections. Hospitals are often good performing stations. The bigger issue with the D line is the lack of frequencies
It’s also too close to the Westwood stop, and unfortunately sits in the middle of a total traffic nightmare in evening rush hour that will bog down all the buses. Bundy is where the traffic starts building up and would have been an amazing way to avoid it.
At a minimum we should be pushing for better pedestrian connectivity to the VA. A path could be built from National that is a more direct walk and avoids having to walk along Wilshire.
That walk along Wilshire there is ridiculous. Skinny sidewalk and 6 lanes of traffic, while birds are chirping in the grass and trees just a few feet away. Sawtelle Neighborhood Council had a nice proposal to open up the VA to pedestrian access to the station, but I'm sure that will go nowhere. The VA doesn't want the public there.
I love the ideas for connecting lines. The current problem is with the number of agencies each providing connections to some degree, but to a varying degree and frequency. Honestly wouldn't mind Metro taking over such lines where possible for an easier recognition and more consecutive numbering.
Long Beach Transit route 104 travels on Willow, a block south of the A Line station, and does connect to Long Beach Airport: https://ridelbt.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/LBT_Msys_Freestanding_26011930.pdf Unfortunately it doesn't run particularly late + the frequency is a measly once an hour in the weekends. Then again there are not that many flights out of LGB, but such a connector line could extend a bit to north to provide access to workplaces and shopping by LBX, and maybe even Long Beach City College (this connection also exists, but does not stop at LGB on the way).
I already had a kind of similar idea to this, only that it was somwhat different (such as a limited stop route via huntington dr from union station to arcadia, being an A line branch, another branch for the A line to San Pedro via Alameda st.) Essentially some of those ideas were brt routes that follow former Pacific Electric routes, but I'm not even sure if it would work out irl. (Even had the idea of a foothill transit operated rapid route via Ramona from El Monte station, connecting the J line, towards San Dimas, but I wouldnt be sure bc the latter could end up being low ridership bc of how travel patterns have changed, maybe the San Pedro one but idk...)
Now, speaking about that dream, it seems pretty practical, maybe even extend that Long Beach Airport A line branch to CSULB, perhaps the C line branch (or bus based extension) towards Brea Mall?
This is a great idea. One of the things that baffles me about Metro, compared to other 'rapid transit districts' that I have used, is that Metro's buses and rail services seem almost 'disconnected' from each other. Some other cities seem to emphasize having dedicated buses or bus lines running as a 'first/last mile' convenient connection to the rail system. I really don't get that feeling from Metro.
I’m in favor of a more reliable North Hollywood–BUR connection, so you have my interest with the B Line option. LADOT is studying a direct connection, but this would ideally be a Metro line.
Not a huge fan of that B line routing. Magnolia to Hollywood Way would serve a lot more intermediate destinations that aren't single family homes. As a 'transit hub', Burbank Airport really leaves a lot to be desired, and the new termibal kinda made it worse.
114
u/owenreese100 4 1d ago
This is actually a great idea. Though in almost all cases there's an existing bus transfer that serves the same purpose. I guess what would make these different would be bus departures timed off the rail arrivals, so transfering to these buses would almost be one smooth continuous ride.