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Big Blue Bus

File:BIGBLUEBUS wordmark vertical.jpg
Big Blue Bus at UCLA Hilgard Terminal
Founded	1928
Headquarters	Santa Monica, California
Locale	Santa Monica, Westwood, and Venice, California
Service area	United States
Service type	Transit Bus
Routes	20
Fleet	189
Daily ridership	71,133 (Weekday, 2012; 34,433 (Saturday, 2012); 23,726 (Sunday, 2012)
Fuel type	LNG, CNG
Operator	City of Santa Monica, California
Chief executive	Edward F. King
Website	bigbluebus.com

The Santa Monica Big Blue Bus is a municipal bus operator in the Westside region of Los Angeles, providing both local and bus rapid transit service in Santa Monica and adjacent neighborhoods of Los Angeles (including LAX). Express service is also provided to Downtown Los Angeles and Union Station.

History

In 1928, the City of Santa Monica launched their first route. Choosing a blue livery, it was originally called Santa Monica Municipal Bus Lines. It kept their base fare at 10 cents for an extensive period of time. The impetus for the creation was a fare increase on the Pacific Electric interurban trains between Santa Monica and Los Angeles. The Santa Monica bus connects with the Los Angeles Railway streetcars at Pico and Rimpau Boulevards in the Mid-City section of Los Angeles. That historic terminus point has become an important transit center in Los Angeles simply because it is the point where thousands of bus riders along Pico Boulevard must transfer to continue their trips eastward to Downtown Los Angeles or westward to the Westside.

The Big Blue Bus is considered one of the best bus services in the Los Angeles area. The system won the American Public Transportation Association’s Outstanding Transportation System award in 1987, 1992, 1997, 2000 and 2011. The Big Blue Bus did not raise its regular fare above 50 cents until 2002, when it became 75 cents. In contrast, most public bus lines in California were charging fares of a dollar or more well before 2000. There was no monthly pass until August 2010 except for the EZ Pass, and unlike other EZ Pass agencies, Metrolink fare media are not accepted. However, allowing for the inevitability of traffic delays on weekday afternoons, the Big Blue Bus system provides frequent and convenient service to most neighborhoods in its service area. Many routes serve UCLA.

The Big Blue Bus was one of the last transit agencies using the GMC New Look buses; they were retired in 2005. Big Blue Bus received the last New Looks ever built. The last one ever built, #5180, was driven off the property in May 2013 after being donated to the Museum of Bus Transportation in Hershey, Pennsylvania, which preserves the bus.

For 20 years until December 1999 Santa Monica Bank ran a series of humorous ads on the back of the buses. Examples include "Old and wrinkled is beautiful. Especially in large denominations", "Go invest, young man", "Was it his eyes? His lips? His jumbo CD?" and (the final one) "After 20 years on the bus, we've reached our stop". The campaign ended as the bank was absorbed by U.S. Bank.

The system was started by former Brentwood resident Ruldolph F. Brunner, who later sold the system thinking it wouldn't amount to any more than a few dollars a week.

On November 20, 2012, a Big Blue Bus turned left in front of an oncoming motorcyclist, which resulted in the 25-year-old man's death. The accident occurred at approximately 10:33 a.m. at the triangular intersection of Sunset Boulevard and Marquez in the Pacific Palisades. Only buses are allowed to make the left turn, a maneuver that has been determined to be too dangerous for other vehicles.

On June 7, 2013, Bus 4057 of Big Blue Bus was among several vehicles fired at during a thirteen-minute killing spree that left six people dead, including the gunman, and four others wounded. Three women suffered minor injuries aboard the bus, one from shrapnel-type injuries and the other two from injuries unrelated to the gunfire. Approximately two dozen people were inside the bus at the time of the shooting. The attack on Bus 4057 marked the first time a Big Blue Bus came under attack by a gunman in its 85-year service.

Some popular destinations

Big Blue Bus provides service to the following popular destinations:

• Century City
• Downtown Los Angeles
• Downtown Santa Monica, including the Third Street Promenade
• Los Angeles Convention Center
• Los Angeles International Airport (LAX)
• Metro Expo Line Culver City Station
• Metro Green Line Aviation Station
• Metro Purple Line Wilshire/Western Station
• Rimpau Transit Center
• Santa Monica Civic Auditorium
• Santa Monica College
• Santa Monica Pier and Pacific Park
• UCLA
• Union Station
• Venice Beach
• Will Rogers State Beach

Routes

Big Blue Bus operates 15 local routes and 5 Rapid routes, in Los Angeles County.

• # Sunday service is provided on New Year's Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day.
• ‡ Weekdays trips from 7a-8p serve UCLA Transit Center / Hilgard Terminal; Weekdays trips from 8p-7a and all weekends trips serve Ackerman Terminal.

Fares

• † Children five years of age and under may ride free (maximum 2 children with accompanying adult).
• ‡ Proper identification must be presented to obtain the reduced Student and Senior/Disabled/Medicare fare.
• S Santa Monica College students and staff may ride free with college I.D. and valid semester sticker.
• The BBB ended intra-agency transfers on January 1, 2014.

UCLA Student and staff

Santa Monica Big Blue Bus and Culver CityBus participate in BruinGo program, in which UCLA students and staff can swipe their BruinCard (university I.D.) on the farebox, so that the university pays a part of the fare.

Fleet

Current

Retired

Make/ Model	Picture	Year	Numbers (Quantity Ordered)	Engine/ Transmission	Fuel Propulsion	Retired	Notes
5123-5180		1985-1986	GMDD	T8H-5307A	Detroit Diesel 6V92TA	Allison V730	Last Fishbowls ever built. Some sold to Canadian properties after retirement. 5180 is preserved in the Big Blue Bus yard.
MCI TC40-102A Classic		1988-1991	5181-5210, 4951-4960 (40 buses)	Detroit Diesel Series 92 Allison B400R	Diesel	2005	Many are still used in secondhand service by Canadian bus operators.
Nova Bus TC40-102A Classic		1995	4801-4821 (21 buses)	Detroit Diesel Series 50 Allison B400R	Diesel	September 2011	Last high floor buses to be Retired.
Thomas Built Buses SLF 230		2000	2606-2615 (10 buses)	Cummins B5.9 Allison AT-545	Diesel	July 2010	Formerly used for Mini Blue service
New Flyer D40LF		1997-98	3801-3867 (67 buses)	Detroit Diesel Series 50 Allison B400R	Diesel	2014	The first low floor buses purchased Some are used second hand in other transit agencies. 3804 & 3855 remain in yard

Big Blue Buses in popular culture

Speed

The most famous Big Blue Bus is probably the one rigged with a bomb in 1994's hit movie Speed. Driving through Los Angeles at rush hour, the driver cannot slow down below 50 mph (80 km/h) or the bomb on the bus will detonate.

The bus operator in the movie is called the Santa Monica Intercity Bus Lines, a barely fictionalized version of the Big Blue Bus's official name, the Santa Monica Municipal Bus Lines. Even more tellingly, the bus in the film is a General Motors "New Look" bus, introduced in 1959 but kept in prominent and active service by Santa Monica until early 2005, long after most other American cities had retired the retro-looking bus.

In another effort to differentiate the movie's bus from any real-world bus, the headsigns on the Speed bus display:

33 DOWNTOWN | VIA FREEWAY

However, number 33 buses are operated by Metro, not Big Blue, and run on Venice Boulevard, not the Santa Monica Freeway. The closest thing to the movie bus's routing is Santa Monica's number 10 express route.

The bus number was 2525, not within any equipment number range operated by the real company at that time.

It should also be noted that at the time the movie was released, Santa Monica's GM New Look fleet were the Canadian-built versions with wheelchair lifts; the US-built version were retired in 1990 to make room for the Classics.

Jimmy Kimmel Live!

In an episode that originally aired on May 15, 2007, the ABC late-night show, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, was filmed on a New Flyer L40LF model LNG bus. In this episode, titled Jimmy Kimmel Live on a Bus, Kimmel sat behind the desk, which was rigged to fit in a bus. This particular Santa Monica Big Blue Bus that was used in the episode was driven by veteran bus driver Erskins Robinson, who picked up unsuspecting passengers along his route. The celebrity guests who appeared in the Jimmy Kimmel Live on a Bus episode were Paula Abdul, Flavor Flav, and musical guest Feist.

The Doors

A Blue Bus is referred to twice in The Doors's classic 1967 song "The End", when singer Jim Morrison says "The blue bus is calling us", and "Meet me at the back of the blue bus".

Raymond Chandler

In Raymond Chandler's novel "Farewell, My Lovely", first published in 1940, he writes as protagonist Philip Marlowe, describing a scene in Bay City (Chandler's version of the City of Santa Monica):

"Outside the narrow street fumed, the sidewalks swarmed with fat stomachs. Across the street a bingo parlor was going full blast and beside it a couple of sailors with girls were coming out of a photographer’s shop where they had probably been having their photos taken riding on camels. The voice of the hot dog merchant split the dusk like an axe. A big blue bus blared down the street to the little circle where the street car used to turn on a turntable. I walked that way."

References

1. "Big Blue Bus's 2012 National Transit Database Entry"
2. Big Blue Bus to Increase Fares as of August 29th
3. Bus Line's One-Liners to StopLos Angeles Times Dec. 1, 1999
4. June 7, 2013, 11:57 PM. "Injured victims of Santa Monica shooting". Cbsnews.com. Retrieved 2013-06-10.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
5. "City of Santa Monica: July 7th, 2013 Shooting Incident After-Action Report"
6. "Routes & Schedules". Big Blue Bus. Retrieved 26 September 2014.
7. ^ "BruinGo! Transit". UCLA Transportation. Retrieved 19 January 2012.
8. "SMC - Any Time". Big Blue Bus. Retrieved 19 January 2012.
9. http://www.bigbluebus.com/aboutus/index.asp
10. http://www.smgov.net/departments/council/agendas/2014/20140923/s2014092303-B.htm
11. http://www.newflyer.com/index/030315-city-of-santa-monica

Further reading

Ayer, Bob. History of Santa Monica's Big Blue Bus. Santa Monica, CA: City of Santa Monica, 1992.

External links

• Big Blue Bus homepage
• Google Map of Routes (last updated 2007)

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