Long Beach Transit

Long Beach Transit is a municipal transit company providing fixed and flexible bus transit services in Long Beach, California, United States, in other communities in south and southeast Los Angeles County, and northwestern Orange County. Long Beach Transit also operates the Passport shuttle, Aquabus, and Aqualink. The service, while operated on behalf of the City of Long Beach, is not operated directly by the city (such as is done with the bus service operated by the City of Santa Monica), but by a separate nonprofit corporation, the Long Beach Public Transportation Company, operated for that purpose.

This article is about the bus system in Long Beach, California. For the bus system in Long Beach, New York, see Long Beach Bus.
Long Beach Transit
Long Beach Transit New Flyer D60LF
ParentLong Beach Public Transportation Company
Founded1963
Headquarters1963 East Anaheim Street
LocaleLong Beach, Paramount, Signal Hill, and Lakewood, CA
Service typeBus service, Watertaxi
Routes32 fixed routes and Passport
Fleet220
Daily ridership82,900 (Q4 2010)[1]
Fuel typeDiesel, Gasoline-electric hybrid, CNG
OperatorLong Beach Public Transportation Company
Websitelbtransit.com

Long Beach Transit receives its operating revenue from farebox receipts and state tax revenue distributed by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

History

Long Beach Transit began operation in 1963 with the acquisition of Long Beach City Lines and Long Beach Motor Bus Company from National City Lines. The primary service area of Long Beach Transit has been the city of Long Beach and to a limited extent the enclave city of Signal Hill, but it has also provided service to surrounding communities in Los Angeles County, including Lakewood, Cerritos, Norwalk, and Seal Beach in neighboring Orange County.

The company has operated various types of bus services. During the 1970s and 1980s, it also ran small shuttle buses in the downtown area, called DASH (for Downtown Area Short Hops), and because the routes were shorter, the fare was lower than on the regular buses.

Transfers

Originally, bus transfers could be obtained upon payment of $0.05 for local transfers, and $0.10 for "interagency transfers", which allow transfer to another bus line without additional payment (except for express service). Throughout the 1970s and early 1980s, instead of using a common transfer with the route number punched on the transfer, each route had its own transfer with the route number printed on them. For transfers to other bus lines, Long Beach Transit used the consolidated Los Angeles County interagency transfer, which every bus company in Los Angeles County except RTD (now Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority) and Orange County Transit District (now Orange County Transportation Authority) used (both RTD and OCTD regular transfers worked for both their own buses and as an interagency transfer). The consolidated interagency transfer used by all the other transit agencies even had a check box naming the twelve bus companies in the county, and the driver would punch the box for the particular agency that issued the transfer.[2] During the mid-1970s (sometime between 1972 and 1976), for a period of six months, a special subsidy was available. All bus trips in Los Angeles County were reduced from approximately $0.80 to $1.25, to $0.25 on weekdays and Saturdays, and $0.10 on Sunday (bus trips outside the county were subject to the regular rate). As a result, the issuance of transfers was discontinued for all trips within Los Angeles County. When the subsidy ended, the old price returned and bus companies resumed issuing transfers.[2]

In the early 1980s, the company changed its transfer system. Instead of using books of transfers, every bus has a ticket printer, which issues the three types of transfers: regular transfers, which allow the user to transfer to a different route; "emergency" transfers (typically used if the customer becomes sick and has to get off the bus), which allow the user to get back on the same route; and interagency transfers, which allow the user to transfer to a different bus company (and gave the user an additional 1 hour of time before it expires), such as Orange County Transit, RTD (now LACMTA), Norwalk Transit and Cerritos Transit (now Cerritos on Wheels) buses. In case of machine failure, however, operators would still carry one book of each kind of transfers.[2]

Effective in 1999, Long Beach Transit instituted a day pass, and on July 1, 2005, it eliminated transfers within the system, although the interagency transfer is available for transfers to other transit systems.[3]

Water taxis

In addition to regular service, Long Beach Transit operates two year-round water taxi services: the 49-passenger AquaBus, and the 75-passenger AquaLink, which connects the major attractions of Downtown Long Beach, including the Aquarium of the Pacific, Long Beach Cruise Terminal, and the RMS Queen Mary hotel.

AquaBus

The 49-passenger AquaBus has six "ports of call": Dock 4 of the Aquarium of the Pacific, Queen Mary, Shoreline Village at Larry H. Parker's Lighthouse, Catalina Landing, Dock 7 of Pine Avenue Circle, and Hotel Maya. The fare is $1.

The AquaLink is a 68-foot catamaran that ferries up to 75 passengers to the most popular attractions in Long Beach Harbor and on to Alamitos Bay Landing. The fare is $5, and wheelchair boarding is available at Dock 4 near the Aquarium of the Pacific and at the Queen Mary.

Regular service
A LBT bus stop

History

Originally, Long Beach Transit operated its bus lines as a consecutive set of route numbers, from 1 to 18. The numbers had no significance except that route 1 ran along State Route 1, the Pacific Coast Highway. (This is the same number currently used by the Orange County Transit Authority for its route that runs on Route 1.) Some routes had more than one routing; for example, the number 9 route ran from Downtown along 7th Street to California State University, Long Beach. All of the route 9 buses would continue along Bellflower Boulevard, whereupon one would terminate at Bellflower and Stearns Street; one would turn at Willow Street and continue along Woodruff Avenue; another would continue on Bellflower all the way to Alondra Boulevard; and another would also continue to Alondra but take a slight detour to the Lakewood Center shopping mall.

Possibly due to the successful renumbering which RTD had done in 1983, Long Beach Transit also decided to renumber its routes. In the mid-1980s, the company changed some of its route numbers, keeping the original 1- or 2-digit number and adding a single digit after the number. This was done to routes which split and serviced multiple streets and destinations. The route 9, as indicated above, was renumbered into routes 91, 92, 93, and 94, based on the street and destination while routes that only served one street and destination remained the same with their original 1 or 2 digit route number, example Line 1 which still remains. Additional routes have since been added, generally using the same system. For example, if a route extends part of an existing route, it takes the first one (or two) digits of the major route number, then adds a new additional digit on the end. This is why there is now a route 96, which did not exist at the time of the original route 9.[2]

Current routes
As of February 2020
Route # Description Termini Major street(s) Days of operation
1 Easy Downtown Long Beach CSUDH Easy Ave daily
21 Cherry Garfield Ave/Rosecrans Ave Cherry Ave
22 Downey Ave Lakewood Boulevard station
23 Cherry Garfield Ave/Petrol St
Passport

(Route 37)

 Pine Ave-Queen Mary Free Service 10th St/Pine Ave Queen Mary Pine Ave daily
45 Anaheim St/Santa Fe Ave Santa Fe Ave/Cowles St Pacific Coast Hwy/Anaheim St Anaheim St daily
46 Anaheim St Downtown Long Beach
51 LB Blvd Artesia station Long Beach Blvd
52 LB Blvd/Victoria St weekdays
61 Atlantic Atlantic Ave daily
71 Orange Rosecrans Ave/Lakewood Blvd Alamitos Ave, Orange Ave
81 10th St/CSULB Downtown Long Beach CSULB 10th St, 7th St weekdays
91 7th St/Bellflower Blvd Woodruff Ave/Alondra Blvd 7th St daily
92 7th St/Woodruff Ave weekdays
93 7th St/Clark Ave
94 7th St Los Altos Market Center daily
96 ZAP ZAP 7th St 6th St or 7th St/Long Beach Blvd CSULB weekdays during Fall and Spring Semesters
101 Carson St/Norwalk Blvd Santa Fe Ave/25th St Carson St/Norwalk Blvd Willow St daily
102 Willow St/Spring St weekdays
103 Carson St Lakewood Center daily
104 Willow St/Spring St Carson St/Norwalk Blvd
111 Broadway/Lakewood Blvd Downtown Long Beach South St/Downey Ave Broadway daily
112 Broadway/Clark Ave South St/Downey Ave
121 Ocean Blvd/CSULB PCH/Clark Ave. Catalina Express Landing Ocean Blvd
131 Redondo Wardlow station Seal Beach (Electric Ave/Main Ave) Redondo Ave
151 4th St Cesar E. Chavez Park Colorado Lagoon 4th St
171 PCH Villages at Cabrillo

(Pacific Coast Hwy/Santa Fe Ave)

 Seal Beach (Electric Ave/Main Ave) Pacific Coast Hwy daily
172 PCH/Palo Verde Ave Downtown Long Beach Norwalk station

Los Cerritos Center (172, M-F)

173 PCH/Studebaker Rd
174 PCH to Ximeno Ximeno Ave/Pacific Coast Hwy
175 PCH to CSULB Only Villages at Cabrillo CSULB weekdays
176 ZAP ZAP PCH LBCC Liberal Arts Campus
181 Magnolia Downtown Long Beach Wardlow station Magnolia Ave daily
182 Pacific Pacific Ave
191 Santa Fe Ave/Del Amo Blvd Bloomfield Ave/Del Amo Blvd Santa Fe Ave, Magnolia Ave
192 Santa Fe Ave/South St Los Cerritos Center
510 UCLA/Westwood Commuter Express Long Beach Airport UCLA Gateway Plaza Interstate 405 weekdays

Decommissioned routes
Route Termini Major street(s) Fate Notes
5
 Long Beach Transit Mall Artesia Station Long Beach Boulevard Replaced with Routes 51, 52
7
 Long Beach Transit Mall Rosecrans Avenue Orange Avenue

Alamitos Aveune

 Replaced with Routes 71, 72 (Route 72 decommissioned in 2019)
23
 Long Beach Transit Mall Carson Street Cherry Avenue decommissioned; revived in 2020 as a new route
62
 Long Beach Transit Mall Alondra Boulevard Atlantic Avenue decommissioned
63
 Long Beach Transit Mall Artesia Boulevard Atlantic Avenue decommissioned Served northbound only
66 ZAP
 Long Beach Transit Mall Artesia Station Atlantic Avenue decommissioned

Ran alongside Route 61, Partially 62, & 63

72
 Long Beach Transit Mall Rosecrans Avenue Orange Avenue

Alamitos Avenue Hunsaker Avenue

 decommissioned Ran alongside route 71
193
 Long Beach Transit Mall Del Amo Station Santa Fe Avenue decommissioned Possibly decommissioned in favor of Route 1 due to its current route (see above)
194
 Long Beach Transit Mall Del Amo Station Santa Fe Avenue

Hughes Way

 decommissioned Possibly decommissioned in favor of Route 1 due to its current route (see above)
Passport A
 Long Beach Transit Mall Seal Beach Ocean Boulevard

2nd Street

 Partially absorbed into Route 121, remaining portion absorbed into Route 131. Free Service
Passport B
 Cesar Chavez Park(West)

Long Beach Transit Mall(East)

 Long Beach Transit Mall(West)

Colorado Logoon(East)

 4th Street(All Lines) Replaced with Route 151 Free Service

Only Route in the LBT to be split, rather than one

Passport C
 Downtown Long Beach Queen Mary Pine Avenue Absorbed into Current Passport Route Free Service
Passport D
 Long Beach Transit Mall Traffic Circle

Atherton and Outer Circle

 Ocean Boulevard

2nd Street

Bellflower Boulevard

 Replaced with Route 121 Free Service
Pine Avenue Link
 Downtown Long Beach Aquarium of the Pacific Pine Avenue Absorbed into Passport C, which in turn was absorbed into current Passport route Free Service

Fleet

As of 2018, Long Beach Transit's fleet is composed of mostly New Flyer buses, which are the GE40LF, GE40LFA, XN40, and XN60 models. It also has a large number of Gillig BRT+ models, a decreasing number of New Flyer D40LF models, and one Prévost coach used for charters. It also uses the battery-powered BYD K9 buses,[4] which are mainly used for the Passport zero-fare service.

Long Beach Transit has had several major firsts. It was the first agency to:

  • Operate the General Motors RTS bus in the late 1970s, in addition to other variants
  • Operate the first gasoline-electric buses in the world
  • Use the first Gillig bus powered by CNG

The buses have four-digit numbers, of which the first two digits represent the year the bus was put into service. Buses numbered 90## (the ## representing number in fleet) entered service in the 1990s, 20## - 29## entered service in the 2000s, and 12## - 18## entered service in the 2010s.

Long Beach Transit buses are operated out off 2 yards:

  • Headquarters
  • Jackson Transit Centre

Most buses are stored at the headquarters on Anaheim Street. The articulated buses are stored at the Jackson Transit Centre bus depot in Paramount, CA. Both bus depots are located on Cherry Avenue.

Active fleet
Year entered service Manufacturer Model Fuel type Length (ft / metres) Vehicle numbers Notes
2000 Prevost H3-45 diesel 45 (13.7 m) 2000 Used for charters only
2002 New Flyer D40LF diesel 40 (12.2 m) 2201-2239 2229 & 2237 are retired.

14 units are active and 12 are in the reserve fleet

2005 New Flyer GE40LF gasoline, electricity 40 (12.2 m) 2401-2427 First gas-electric buses in the world to enter public service

2401 retired following an accident

2005 2501-2522 2521 and 2522 were originally from OCTA
2007 2701-2715
2008-09 GE40LFA 42 (12.8 m) 2901-2925 The only LFA buses to use gasoline

First buses to feature current red/orange livery

2012 Gillig BRT+ CNG 42 (12.8 m) 1201-1233 1201 is a 2011 demo unit and was Gillig's first CNG-powered bus
2012 1301-1331
2015 1521-1528
2015 New Flyer XN60 CNG 60 (18.3 m)

(articulated)

 1501-1513
2016 BYD K9 electricity 39 (11.9 m) 1601-1610 First electric buses in fleet
2017-18 New Flyer XN40 CNG 40 (12.2 m) 1801-1840 Includes options for 89 buses until 2021.[1]

Retired fleet (from 2009 onwards)
Years of service

(began-ended)

 Manufacturer Model Fuel type Length (ft / metres) Vehicle numbers Notes
1994-2009 New Flyer D40LF Diesel 40 (12.2 m) 9401-9420 First low-floor buses in fleet
1996-2013 9601-9625
1997-2018 9701-9720 Retired in summer 2018
1998-2018 9801-9816
2000-2018 2001-2018
2001-2012 Chance Opus Diesel 30 (9.1 m) 2101-2130 Used on Passport routes (A to D) until 26 August 2012.[3]
2002-2015 New Flyer D60LF Diesel 60 (18.3 m) (articulated) 2301-2313 Replaced by XN60 buses


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References
  1. "APTA Public Transportation Report" (PDF). Retrieved 1 April 2011.
  2. Remembering RTD and the "good old days" of cheap LA area public transit Archived 2014-11-29 at the Wayback Machine, paul-robinson.us, January 9, 2012
  3. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-04-16. Retrieved 2012-05-05.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  4. Branson-Potts, Hailey (27 April 2015). "Long Beach Transit agrees to purchase electric buses". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 31, 2015.

Further reading
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