Draft:History of bus service in Los Angeles

The history of bus service in Los Angeles, California dates back to 1923, when a bus service began operation on Western Avenue. Since the first line began operation, bus service has served an increasingly important role in Los Angeles public transit. As of SOME DATE, bus service constitutes SOME LARGE PERCENT of ridership in WHICH GEOGRAPHY, with HOWEVER MANY NUMBER of trips taken annually.

Today, the largest bus operator in Los Angeles County is Los Angeles Metro Bus. The Metro Bus brand dates to the 1993 founding of the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, but many of the routes in the system are little changed from the bus routes of the prior Southern California Rapid Transit District (RTD), or the streetcar routes operated by the Pacific Electric (PE) and the Los Angeles Railway (LARy).

First motor bus services
The first motor bus service in Los Angeles began in 1923, operated by the Los Angeles Motor Bus Company. The initial service was on Western Avenue, from Los Feliz Boulevard south to Slauson Avenue. The service expanded quickly, with 52 mi of bus lines by 1925. Buses became the preferred method of expansion for the PE and the LARy, both of which stopped constructing new tracks shortly after the introduction of motor bus services.

Consolidation and the LAMTA
The Los Angeles Motor Bus Co., later renamed the Los Angeles Motor Coach Co., was one of many motor bus services founded in the early 20th century. Many were subsumed into Metropolitan Coach Lines and Los Angeles Transit Lines, the eventual successors of the PE and LARy. Some bus operators of the era, such as Santa Monica Municipal Bus Lines and Culver City Municipal Bus Lines (both founded in 1928) and Montebello Bus Lines (1931) remained independent throughout the consolidation of the mid-20th century, and still operate today.

After World War II, bus services increased, as replacements for streetcar service. Trolleybus service was introduced in the late 1940s by Los Angeles Transit Lines, using a fleet of vehicles originally intended for the Key System in Oakland. In 1958, Los Angeles Transit Lines and Metropolitan Coach Lines were bought out by the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transit Authority, bringing the bulk of Los Angeles transit service from private to public ownership. The LAMTA converted all lines to motor buses, halting service on the final ex-PE line in 1961. The era of bus-only transit service in Los Angeles began in March 1963, with the conversion of the final LARy line to bus operation.

SCRTD era
The Southern California Rapid Transit District was created by an act of the California Legislature in 1964, and further consolidated transit services across the Los Angeles area. Its purchase of ten private bus companies created a large agency, responsible for services across Southern California, including Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Orange, and Riverside Counties. The agency, abbreviated as the RTD, changed its focus throughout its existence, spinning off its services outside Los Angeles County, and proposing multiple plans for rail transit systems in failed ballot measures in 1968, 1974, and 1976.

The RTD

Rapid growth of the Southern California region increased demand for bus services in the 1970s, compounded by high gasoline prices during the 1973 oil crisis. Bus ridership rose 82% from 1976 to 1980, but funding challenges, overcrowding, and fare increases challenged the RTD and its increasingly-popular bus system. The passage of Proposition A in 1980 provided funding for a rail transit system and bus operations, including a reduction of the base bus fare to $0.50,. The low fares increased ridership on RTD buses by 40% from 1982 to 1985, exacerbating overcrowding.

The RTD, both a bus operator and a rail construction agency, came into conflict with the City of Los Angeles and the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission over funding and rail route selection. The RTD and the LACTC conflicted over the first steps for a rail system, and ultimately the RTD and LACTC sought to construct two separate rail lines: the RTD built the Red Line subway, and the LACTC built the Blue Line light rail line. Per the terms of Proposition A, the funding for the $0.50 bus fare program was reallocated to rail construction 1985, and the bus fare increases that followed caused ridership to drop precipitously.

Founding of LACMTA
The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, abbreviated as Metro, was founded in 1993 from the merger of the RTD and the LACTC. It was charged with financing and constructing the rail system, operating the bus system, and allocating funding to other transportation programs in the region. The genesis of Metro, as the merger of two continually conflicting agencies, was itself the subject of conflict, with distinctions between former LACTC and former RTD employees persisting for years.