Metro Rapid

Metro Rapid is a bus service in Los Angeles County, California, operated as part of the Los Angeles Metro Bus system. Metro Rapid service was introduced in the early 2000s to provide faster service on major corridors in Los Angeles, with stops spaced approximately 1/2 mile apart.

The first Metro Rapid lines featured physical infrastructure improvements, including signal priority at intersections in the City of Los Angeles, and enhanced bus shelters. The service was initially popular, expanding across Los Angeles County. Despite the service's initial popularity, service was cut on some major corridors in response to budget difficulties in the early 2010s.

A major reorganization of the Metro Bus network, the NextGen Bus Plan, was proposed in 2019. Much of the Metro Rapid network was suspended in 2020, as part of the broader impacts on transit from the COVID-19 pandemic, and most Rapid lines were not reinstated. The changes from the NextGen plan, implemented beginning in 2021, merged most Rapid lines back into their local counterparts.

Service
Metro Rapid service is a limited-stop bus service, with characteristics of bus rapid transit. These characteristics include off-board fare payment on some lines, enhanced bus stops that are spaced farther apart than corresponding local services, and signal priority at some intersections.

The lack of dedicated bus lanes for Metro Rapid service has led scholars to describe it as "BRT-lite," as opposed to "bus rapid transit" or "full-service bus rapid transit."

History
A delegation from the Los Angeles city government, including Mayor Richard Riordan, visited the Brazilian city of Curitiba in early 1999. The civic leaders were impressed by Curitiba's comprehensive bus rapid transit system, the Rede Integrada de Transporte, and sought to replicate it. By the summer of 1999, planning was underway for a pilot program of bus rapid transit service on two corridors: Wilshire Blvd/Whittier Blvd and Ventura Blvd.

The establishment of Metro Rapid service followed a 1996 consent decree, the product of a federal lawsuit brought by a coalition of civil rights organizations, including the Bus Riders Union. The plaintiffs in the lawsuit argued that Metro's large subsidies for rail construction and operation, relative to its expenditures for bus service, were discriminatory. Metro Rapid service was one part of Metro's proposals to improve bus service, approved by special master Donald T. Bliss. In addition to introducing Metro Rapid service, Metro expanded local and express bus service, purchased hundreds of new buses, and lowered bus pass prices. Metro Rapid service on the two pilot corridors began in June 2000, opening on the same day as the Red Line extension to North Hollywood. Both lines were immediately popular, generating ridership growth of 25% in their first 90 days of operation. Travel time was improved by over 20% on both lines, aided by the signal priority at intersections in the City of Los Angeles. Customer satisfaction increased relative to the previous local and limited-stop bus services, and the Rapid service quickly captured over 60% of bus ridership on both corridors.

Following the initial pilot program of two lines in 2000, the Metro Rapid system expanded quickly. 6 lines were in operation in 2003, expanding to 26 lines in 2010. This rapid expansion was followed by significant reduction, with 5 Rapid lines cut in 2011 due to a budget crisis.

The NextGen Bus Plan, a Metro initiative to redesign its entire bus network, proposed to eliminate most of the Metro Rapid network beginning in 2020. Implementation of the NextGen plan was interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused service cuts independent of the network redesign. In the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, beginning in late 2020, service was reallocated from Metro Rapid lines to local lines. A December 2020 service change eliminated 6 lines, and much of the rest of the network was proposed to be eliminated by 2021. The NextGen plan included the construction of over 30 mi of new bus lanes across Los Angeles, a feature notably absent from the Metro Rapid system since its introduction.

As of 2024, three Metro Rapid lines remain in operation, serving the Wilshire Blvd, Vermont Av, and Van Nuys Blvd/Sepulveda Pass corridors.

Perception and criticism
A 2009 study by the National Bus Rapid Transit Institute found that the public perception of Metro Rapid service was better than that of Metro's corresponding local bus services, and similar to the Blue Line. However, Metro Rapid service was perceived as lower-quality than Orange Line BRT and Metro's other rail services.

Transit planner Jarrett Walker, who is unaffiliated with Metro, criticized the rapid growth of the Metro Rapid service on multiple occasions. Walker characterized the system as "diluted," commenting that Metro Rapid lines introduced after the first two lacked the bus stop amenities, service frequency, and signal priority that defined the two initial lines. Walker nonetheless praised the system for the attitude it represented, describing it as "a remarkable effort to step up mobility all over the city in a very short time."