In 2000, the county's Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) began testing a new service, called Metro Rapid, to speed up its public transit system. The service, which uses bus-mounted transponders to give the vehicles priority at traffic signals, has cut travel time by 25 percent on routes where it is deployed. In addition, passengers know exactly when the next bus will arrive, thanks to electronic displays at bus stops.
"We interviewed thousands of our bus riders here and their number-one issue was the speed of the transit system," said Rex Gephart, Metro Rapid project manager. "It's a very slow system because of traffic and other reasons."
So far, MTA has implemented Metro Rapid on two of its most traveled corridors: The Wilshire/Whittier and Ventura Boulevard lines. These routes pick up passengers where the city's Red Line subway drops off and terminate on the west side of the county.
Ridership on these lines has picked up by nearly 30 percent since Metro Rapid began. On average, the routes carry 30,000 riders each day. One line attracts as many as 90,000 boardings daily.
Go on Green
Any driver knows the euphoria of making all the green lights. That is what Metro Rapid bus riders experience every day. Buses get priority at signals, so if a traffic light is about to turn red, but a bus is five seconds away, the light is held on green until the bus clears the intersection. Similarly, if the light is already red and a bus is on its way, the signal will turn green early so the bus doesn't have to stop.
Metro Rapid stems from a partnership between the city and county of Los Angeles. The city's Department of Transportation already had the computer hardware and software necessary to make it happen. MTA installed wires in the streets, acting as underground antennas, at each intersection. Buses were outfitted with small transponders that communicate with the wires, or loops. As a bus moves over a loop, its location is sent to the city's computer. Each time the bus passes an intersection, the computer determines its speed and calculates how long it will take to reach the next intersection. The system uses the data to decide when to change traffic lights or delay changing the lights.
The computer also calculates when the bus will reach its next stop and relays that information to bus-stop message boards. An Nguyen, project manager of the Los Angeles Department of Transportation (LADOT), said information is customized for each stop. "[The system] would report to all the downstream stops," he said. "So, the first stop would say, 'Next bus in three minutes,' and for the same bus the second stop would say, 'Next bus in 10 minutes,' as the estimated time of arrival of that bus."
Bright LED displays show arrival information in two-inch characters and are mounted nine feet above the ground. Each display is equipped with a wireless modem to receive messages relayed from the city's computer via cellular digital packet data (CDPD) technology.
Metro Rapid includes other features designed reduce travel time as well. For example, the routes include fewer stops and the service employs low-floor buses that allow passengers to board and depart more quickly.
The stops that are left are more comfortable for riders. Besides announcing arrival times, accurate to within 60 seconds, Metro Rapid bus shelters offer maps of the entire public transportation system, plus schedules, transfer and fare information.
Lane Change Ahead
Besides making the ride faster and the wait easier, Metro Rapid is not an expensive proposition according to Gephart. "The faster the bus travels, the more time we can use that bus out there, so we add capacity, meaning more seats or more buses with no additional operating expense," he said. "That's a big advantage to the MTA because we're trying to trim our operating expenses, and the public loves it because they have faster service."
Additionally, LADOT's Nguyen said using wireless technology saved money and reduced disruption to drivers during the project's installation. "It makes installation a lot easier," he said. "There's no trenching, there's no cabling to pull or anything."
Gephart said the 42 miles making up the test lines cost about $10 million, including bus-mounted transponders, loops at intersections, bus stations and electronic displays. MTA also pays a per-modem fee of $8 per month to use AT&T's cellular data network for sending information to the displays.
The system took two years to create. Nguyen called the implementation quick, given the project's complexity. "It didn't take all that long to identify the corridor and the needs, and to design all the plans and to procure the equipment and to install it," he said.
MTA continues to improve the system. For example, the agency took steps improve spacing between the buses, which had tended to bunch together despite getting through most of the green lights. Now, instead of giving buses priority at all traffic lights, they only receive priority if they are running slow. A bus following closely behind another might be allowed to sit at a red light, allowing the first bus to get further ahead.
Gephart also hopes to begin sending riders information about the next two buses arriving at a bus stop. That way, if one bus is crowded, passengers will know the next bus is just minutes away.
The MTA's long-range plans include expanding Metro Rapid to at least 22 more lines. Gephart said other jurisdictions have expressed interest in similar projects.
