Big Blue Bus Community Meetings To Be Held Tuesday, Wednesday Regarding 2012 Service Changes:

Big Blue Bus will present proposals of its February 2012 service changes at community meetings Tuesday and Wednesday this week, as well as next Tuesday, Sept. 6

Public feedback and research from these meetings will be used to generate a staff report for Santa Monica City Council, which will be considered at one of their regularly scheduled meetings in early November.

“Everyone – residents, students, employers, riders, non-riders – are encouraged to attend a Big Blue Bus community meeting regarding service change proposals,” said Dan Dawson, Customer Relations Manager for the Big Blue Bus. “It’s not public transit without public input.”

The meetings will discuss proposed changes to Big Blue Bus routes 5, 12 and Super 12.

These proposed changes are in addition to the nine Big Blue Bus service changes implemented yesterday.

The meetings will be held in ADA-accessible venues. Disability and translation requests should be made at least three days prior to the meeting by calling Teri Plummer at 310.458.1975, ext. 5854 or using TTY 310.395-6024.

Here are the details of the meetings;

Tuesday August 30: 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. at UCLA (Ackerman Union, Room AU 240), Westwood Plaza. It is served by Big Blue Bus Routes 1, 2, 3, 8, 11 and 12; drivers coming from the south should park at structure 6 and from the north in structure 4.

Wednesday August 31: 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Ken Edwards Center, Room 100A, 1527 4th Street, Santa Monica. It is served by Big Blue Bus Routes 1, 2*, 3*, 5*, 7, 8 or 9*.

Tuesday September 6 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Main Library, Multi-Purpose Room, 2nd floor, 601 Santa Monica Blvd, Santa Monica. It served by Big Blue Bus Routes 1*, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7*, 8, 9 and 10*)

* = nearest bus to meeting venue

Service change proposal highlights include:

~ Changing Route 5 so it operates north/south on Robertson Blvd. to the new EXPO light rail station in Culver City; service east of Robertson would be discontinued (this also eliminates duplication of Route 7 service along Pico Blvd.)

~ Changing Route 12 so it only operates to the new EXPO light rail station in Culver City; service along Robertson Blvd. would be discontinued and replaced by Route 5 (see above)

~ Converting Super 12 to Rapid 12 by decreasing the number of stops it would made; new Rapid service would connect to EXPO light rail station in Culver City (but would no longer operate along Robertson Blvd.), weekday frequency would increase and weekend service would be added

While changes to Routes 3 and 14 had been presented at community meetings in March and April of 2011, those plans have been tabled for now and will not be on the agenda at these meetings.

If you cannot attend one of the community meetings listed above, you may share your feedback by emailing Bus: Info@bigbluebus.com.