MAYOR GARCETTI CELEBRATES METRO BOARD VOTE TO ADVANCE NEXTGEN BUS PLAN

Vote moves plan to boost ridership and improve service to public review phase



LOS ANGELES — The Metro Board today unanimously voted to move the NextGen Bus Plan forward for public review. The plan — Metro’s first major overhaul of its bus system in more than 25 years — is an ambitious strategy to boost ridership through faster, more reliable, and more frequent service.



“We won't be satisfied until all Angelenos see Metro as a convenient way to move around the city,” said Mayor Eric Garcetti, Vice Chair of the Metro Board. “The NextGen Bus Plan steers us in the right direction — toward dedicated bus lanes, higher ridership, and faster, more reliable service — and builds on our historic investments in a public transit system that eases traffic, reduces emissions, gets Angelenos out of our cars, and helps us confront the climate crisis.”



The NextGen Bus plan culminates a two-and-a-half-year effort by Metro to better understand current travel demand, determine improvements for existing customers, and attract new riders. In addition to realigning current bus service, consolidating routes, and improving bus speeds, the plan includes capital improvements — such as dedicated bus lanes, traffic signal priority, and new locations for bus layovers — to speed up service.



As a result of today’s vote, Metro will hold a series of community workshop meetings throughout the spring to collect and integrate public input before final Board approval and implementation later this year.



With the current “Transit First” NextGen Bus Plan approved for public review by the Board, 83 percent of riders would have access to buses arriving every five to 10 minutes — compared to only 48 percent today. In addition to increasing the number of bus lines running every five to 10 minutes from 16 to 29 on weekdays and two to 14 on weekends, the plan would also more than double the number of residents who could walk to bus lines running every five to 10 minutes — from 900,000 currently to almost 2.2 million.



Additional information on the NextGen Bus Plan and upcoming public meetings can be found at Metro.net/Projects/NextGen.