The MTA Board of Directors, following an initial feasibility study, initiated the Metro Rapid Demonstration Program in March 1999. Staff was directed by the Board to conduct the feasibility study in response to a visit to Curitiba, Brazil by MTA and City of Los Angeles officials. The Curitiba urban design and public transportation model has been widely praised internationally for its success and has been a major force in the Federal Transit Administration creation of a national Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) initiative. The feasibility study recommended that MTA, in partnership with the City of Los Angeles, conduct a demonstration along two-to-three major arterials which have strong ridership and unique characteristics to provide broad actual experience regarding the feasibility of full-scale deployment of BRT within the MTA system. However, of the 12 key attributes associated with the successful Curitiba BRT (Curitiba does not have bus signal priority), only seven (highlighted) were deemed feasible for implementation during the expedited Phase I Demonstration Program. The remaining six attributes would be deployed in Phase II, system expansion, if the initial demonstration proved successful.

Phase I demonstration implementation planning was initiated in the summer of 1999 with a Spring 2000 goal for start-up of Metro Rapid. Two lines were selected for the demonstration:

• Line 720 Wilshire/Whittier (very high passenger demand urban corridor connecting through the Los Angeles Central Business District (LACBD)
• Line 750 Ventura (high passenger demand suburban corridor serving the Metro Rail Red Line)

The two Metro Rapid lines were implemented on June 24, 2000, coinciding with the opening of the extension of the Metro Red Line to the San Fernando Valley. All seven of the Phase I attributes were fully operational at start-up with the exception of the Metro Rapid Stations where temporary stops were utilized. The Stations with "next bus" displays are currently under construction, with completion of all sites expected in spring 2001.

Demonstration Has Been Successful

The Metro Rapid Demonstration Program has been a success, meeting all 7 of the program's original objects.

Objective 1: Reduce Passenger Travel Times - The Metro Rapid program introduced several attributes specifically to reduce passenger travel times, including bus signal priority, level boarding/alighting with low-floor buses, headway rather than timetable-based schedules, fewer stops, far-side intersection location of stations, and joint active management of the service operation from the Transit Operations Supervisors (TOS) in the field and the MTA Bus Operations Control Center (BOCC). Since the initial date of service, Metro Rapid operation has achieved the following improvements in operating speeds:

• Wilshire/Whittier Corridor - operating speeds increased by 29%.
• Ventura Corridor - operating speeds increased by 23%.

Objective 2: Increase Ridership - The increase in ridership has come from three principal sources: (1) 1/3 of the increase is from brand new riders (riders from households making over $50,000 per year rose to over 13% of total line ridership); (2) 1/3 are current riders riding more often (a higher percentage now ride 5 or more days a week); and (3) 1/3 are current MTA riders who changed routes (diversion).

• Wilshire/Whittier Corridor - ridership has increased by 33%.
• Ventura Corridor - ridership has increased by 26%.

Objective 3: Attract New Riders - As noted above, approximately 1/3 of the ridership increase are new riders based on a survey conducted in September 2000, prior to the work stoppage.

Objective 4: Increase Service Reliability - Metro Rapid was designed to improve service reliability by addressing bus bunching and the incidence of vehicle overcrowding. To date, service reliability has been excellent on the Ventura Metro Rapid, out-performing the time-point based local service in terms of achieving lower bus bunching and improved reliability. Service reliability has been mixed on the Wilshire/Whittier Metro Rapid, largely due to heavily loaded trips during much of the day. Scheduled service was increased in September and December 2000, and will again be increased this coming June 2001 in order to match service levels with demand. Service reliability has been improving with the increase in service and with the introduction of a new module in LADOT's bus signal priority system that helps maintain headway intervals. It is further anticipated that service reliability will continue to improve with the next round of improvements in June 2001.

Objective 5: Improve Fleet and Facility Appearance - Fleet appearance has been excellent with both Divisions 7 and 8 turning in strong ongoing performances. The improvement in fleet cleanliness was very obvious to customers as they indicated in the on-board before and after surveys. Facility appearance has not yet been measured; the Stations have been only recently constructed along Ventura Boulevard and are currently under construction along Wilshire and Whittier at the present time.

Objective 6: Improve Service Effectiveness - Service effectiveness (passengers per revenue hour or mile) has been mixed: Wilshire/ Whittier is up, while Ventura is not. The Wilshire/ Whittier corridor shows significant improvement in effectiveness (productivity is up 8-10% and subsidy per passenger is down 7%) despite increased service (service hours are up 20% but resulted in a 33% ridership gain). The Ventura corridor has showed a marked decline of 28-36% in service effectiveness that is the result of large increases in local service concurrent with the initiation of Metro Rapid (the local service was operating twice as often as Metro Rapid in peak periods). This increase in local service has not generated a significant change in ridership and may be addressed by Operations in the June 2001 Shake-Up. It is anticipated that the effectiveness of the Ventura corridor will improve dramatically with better matching of local service levels with local service demand.

Objective 7: Build Positive Relations with Communities - As part of the development of the Metro Rapid Station concept and design, staff worked closely with the individual communities to implement the Metro Rapid program. Staff have developed a uniform station design that meets the "image-linkage with the vehicle" requirement, while simultaneously meeting community preferences. Staff has worked with the local jurisdictions to address any concerns identified by adjacent property owners without hampering the Metro Rapid program.

Next Steps

• Build on the success of the Metro Rapid Demonstration Program with input from the Municipal Operators, cities, and County.
• Complete the Phase I attributes still in implementation, including station construction with 'next-bus' displays, expansion of the bus signal priority system outside the City of Los Angeles, and upgrading of Metro Rapid bollard gate stations to canopy gates stations where feasible.
• Implement the Phase II Metro Rapid System Expansion Program and remaining Phase II Metro Rapid attributes, including:
  • Multiple door boarding and alighting with off-vehicle fare collection
  • Exclusive lanes/by-pass lanes
  • High capacity vehicles
  • Feeder network

Metro Rapid System Expansion Program