On Sunday, December 13, Metro will roll out the first service changes under its new NextGen Bus Plan, which aims to improve both service and the experience of riding Metro buses, largely by eliminating some Rapid routes or trips and combining them with more frequent local bus service and adjusted stops.
The plans have been in development for nearly two years now, and this first set of changes comes right on schedule, as announced earlier this year. (Metro’s tradition is to roll out schedule changes twice a year, in December and June, so it scheduled its three waves of NextGen changes to coincide with the usual December 2020, June 2021 and December 2021 updates.)
Also, in addition to the changes in bus service, Metro will launch its new Metro Micro on-demand short-trip van service in two zones – LAX/Inglewood and Watts/Willowbrook – on Sunday, to “help augment service in areas where it’s challenging to run fixed-route buses.” Metro Micro service will be launched in more zones across the city as the remaining NextGen bus service changes roll out in June and December of 2021.
In a message to the community recently, Metro explained that this first round of NextGen changes includes the following bus system improvements:
Additional trips to improve frequency and provide more room for social distancing to:
- Over 50 lines on weekdays
- Over 25 lines on Saturdays
- Over 15 lines on Sundays
- Several other lines throughout the network will also have improved frequencies
- Eight rapid lines are being discontinued and replaced with increased service frequency on local lines along the same corridors
- Some bus stops on local bus lines will change to reduce travel time while maintaining easy access to bus stops
And more specifically, yes, there will be changes to our local 20/720 (Wilshire Blvd.) line, and to the 28/728 (Olympic Blvd.) routes, where line 28 local trip frequency will be increased, and the 728 Rapid line will be eliminated.
For details about other specific schedule changes in this round of NextGen improvements, see https://www.metro.net/about/metro-service-changes
There’s also a downloadable PDF version here.
And to check a specific bus route for changes, see https://mybus.metro.net/
Finally, for even more information, call Metro customer service at 323-GO-METRO.
