In 2002, Metro decentralized its bus operations — basically splitting Los Angeles County into five service sectors. The idea, in part, was to create closer ties to the communities served by the agency.

It appears now that the agency is going to re-centralize some of those operations both as a way to save money and better organize aspects of the bus operations that officials say have become too independent of one another — such as scheduling, route planning and maintenance.

The plan is outlined in this report, which is scheduled to be submitted to the Metro Board of Directors’ operations committee as part of its meeting on Thursday. Here’s a link to the Metro web page with an explanation of the different sectors and how they operate.

The new plan, however, would keep the five governance councils that consist of local elected officials and members of the public. As the report says:

The monthly Governance Council meetings and sub-regional public hearings for service changes have proven to be a more convenient and relevant opportunity for public input on MTA service. In addition, Governance Council representatives have been exposed to the details of bus operations. This has translated into a membership that is conversant on complex issues with the willingness to serve as a sounding board for the public. This has also provided personal communication with patrons who may not be able to attend board and committee meetings which also have only limited time allotted for public comment.

I’ll let you know more when I know more about how the plan is going forward. Of course, if you have any thoughts on this, please feel free to email us at thesource@metro.net.