Big Blue Bus stops on Pico Blvd at Santa Monica College in Santa Monica, Calif. on Tuesday, March 5, 2024. (Danilo Perez | The Corsair)

This year, Big Blue Bus is launching a new Comprehensive Operational Analysis (COA) titled “Brighter Blue.” The initiative aims to enhance Big Blue Bus service quality and adapt to travel behaviors post-pandemic.

According to the Brighter Blue website, a COA is a “thorough and systematic examination of a public transit system's operations, performance, and efficiency, such as buses or trains. It is typically conducted by transit agencies, municipalities, or transportation authorities to assess various aspects of their transit services and identify areas for improvement.”

Maintaining a relationship with SMC and the Santa Monica community is crucial for setting goals and understanding how to improve transportation resources. The most recent COA, “Evolution of Blue,” was conducted in 2015 and aimed to “integrate BBB's services with the Metro Expo Light Rail Line (E Line),” according to the Brighter Blue website. “Evolution of Blue” started operations in 2016 in Santa Monica.

The project contains a four-step timeline; Big Blue Bus will conduct research during each step of the project. The timeline is as follows:

Step 1: Collect data/Review existing conditions.
Step 2: Develop a service design strategy.
Step 3: Develop a draft service plan.
Step 4: Finalize the service plan.

Big Blue Bus is currently in the first step of this process, with recent public forums being held last Tuesday and Saturday.

These initial phases seek customer feedback, prompting Big Blue Bus to conduct public forums with different Santa Monica communities. Included among these forums was a virtual group for SMC students hosted on Feb. 29.

The Tuesday mid-afternoon focus group was only attended by a few students due to scheduling conflicts with other classes and club meetings. “I actually went to the [Inter-Club Council] meeting and a few other places to recruit people, and there were, like, 30 people that were interested, and like 28 of them backed off when we told them the time,” said David Duncan, SMC A.S. Director of Budget Management.

Despite the low attendance, Duncan and Esmerelda Hernandez, SMC A.S. Director of External Affairs, answered the discussion questions and shared concerns on behalf of peers and fellow students. The most common issues mentioned were safety concerns, lack of bus shelter, and a lack of early and late bus arrivals to accommodate student schedules at satellite campuses.

The bus arrivals and departures schedule also makes it difficult for students who are not local to Santa Monica to access the main campus. “Right now, it’s still a bit of a struggle for people who don’t live on the westside to get out here, and that’s where I think there’s some room for improvement,” Duncan said in an interview.

Duncan summed up his concerns into a singular issue of livability for riders when using transit systems. “There are a million little details, you know, between the route timings to where the bus stop is, to things like pedestrian safety,” he said. “I mean, that crosswalk in front of campus, I’ve seen people almost get hit there repeatedly,” he said about the short crosswalk next to the 41/43/7 stop at Pico and 18th in front of SMC’s main campus.

Alfredo Torales, Strategic Transit Planner of Big Blue Bus, said many of the issues mentioned can be attributed to the pandemic. “All kinds of industries out there are struggling with hiring, and that’s also impacting the amount of service we can put out there,” he said. “I’d say the operator shortage, and in general recruitment and retention – Without drivers, we just can’t put more service on the streets,” he said when asked about the city's difficulties while trying to improve bus service.

Torales also understands the importance of welcoming feedback from the community, especially from SMC students. “We do have relationships with SMC staff, and in the past, they’ve asked us to consider modifications of some of our routes to serve some of the other campuses. We have a good relationship with SMC, so we’ll always listen to where the demand is and where service is needed,” he said.

During these upcoming phases of the plan, the city of Santa Monica must be flexible and accommodating based on observations and feedback over the next several months. “Our intent will be to implement the plan over the next few years, but if things change in a couple of years, we can always go back and modify, but there’s still a public process to ultimately make those changes and get them approved again,” Torales said.

While the initiative is still in the early stages, there is much excitement about the future of the Big Blue Bus following the implementation of this plan. When asked what he was most excited about regarding the project, Robert McCall, Big Blue Bus Community Engagement Manager, said he was excited about increasing service, supporting riders, and being responsive to their needs.

A.S. Director Duncan expressed a similar sentiment about making transit more reliable and viable for riders. “LA is kind of infamous for having a transit system that doesn’t work for a lot of people, and I think the Big Blue Bus system is making a lot of good progress towards that. But I would like to see more frequent service, longer hours, and better general livability, especially for the SMC community,” he said.

Long-term goals for Brighter Blue include improved ridership, new service designs, and recommendations for technological innovation.

“It will change the way that people think about transit and use transit and have it be a part of how they move long-term beyond graduating from SMC,” McCall said.

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