Metro will begin an eight-week test of all-door boarding on Monday on the 720 Rapid Bus that runs along Wilshire Boulevard. The test will be in two locations: westbound Wilshire/Vermont during weekday mornings and eastbound Wilshire/Westwood during weekday afternoons.

The test is part of an effort by Metro to find a way to speed up buses along key routes. Buses on Wilshire already have access to more than six miles of peak hour bus lanes and the all-door boarding test is to determine if there are other ways to make some time gains.

As all bus riders know, having people line up at the front door to the bus in order to pay their fares can be a time munch, especially on busy bus routes. Check out the video below (the TAP validator you see isn’t yet active).

The idea here is simple. Metro wants to see if moving TAP validators to the curb and allowing passengers to pay and board at all three doors makes a significant difference in terms of the time it takes to load passengers. Metro will also observe if fare evasion is a problem if fare payment is moved away from the bus operator.

The above flyer provides the details. This test also comes at a time when Metro is studying expanding bus rapid transit in the county along the Vermont Avenue and Pasadena-Burbank-Glendale corridors.

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