NextGen Bus Study introduces online engagement tool

by ,

A screen grab from the NextGen engagement tool. Click above to begin.

It has been 25 years since significant changes were made to the Metro Bus system. In response to changing travel patterns and public demand, Metro is in the midst of restructuring and reimagining its bus system via the NextGen Bus Study.

The agency is asking L.A. County residents for their opinions on what the bus system should look like. As part of the public outreach effort, we’re asking you to try the NextGen engagement tool. This engagement tool offers the opportunity for the user to virtually prioritize bus service budget, choose trade-offs and identify frequent destinations on a movable map.

The tool is available until Oct. 2. Draft service plans are scheduled to be released next spring and summer with implementation beginning late 2019 and continuing in winter 2020.

Categories: Policy & Funding, Projects

Tagged as: , ,

11 replies ›

  1. The day the Metro board is run by people who actually use the bus system regularly is the day we will have a transit system that actually caters to the public. Right now you have people running the board who would ever dream of taking the bus here in L.A.. They don’t know what it is to be late to late to work because of the bus, or having to deal with homeless and demented people who fill the hermetically sealed bus with their stench. Rude bus drivers, ill mannered people who take two seats, buses whose seats and aisles are getting smaller in order to accommodate the Americans with Disabilities Act.
    Not knowing and never experiencing any of this they they now attempt to give us the illusion of democracy as if they actually respect our thoughts and opinions. In the end it will be like it always has been, they implementing a system which they think is best for us.

  2. It doesn’t show the route number on the bus with the bus 79 together. On the metro app . It Also show the bus coming on the app . It matched with bus number and bus station stop at .

  4. This isn’t the first tool that I played with for the Nextgen bus study, and I thought I’d just drop a word of caution about soliciting too much user opinion – everyone has their own pet peeves and people don’t know what they want. For example, if service is frequent enough, nobody needs real-time arrival information. You can already see this in the results that the tool provided. People are splitting into mutually exclusive dichotomies or the preferences for resource allocation are approximately the same.

    Denver recently (when I lived there) put in a BRT system between Denver and Boulder and I’m not sure it was the best idea to follow what passengers wanted. The user feedback indicated passengers wanted coach-style buses, so that’s what Denver RTD bought – all these raised floor coaches (think Flyaway) that take forever to load and unload. They were also clunky as hell in the narrow streets in downtown Denver and Boulder, which just added to the total trip time, and since there was no standing room, you could only put like 35 people per coach whereas you can probably pack twice as much on a Silver Line bus that is much more agile. They listened to their customers, and got an inefficient system in a corridor with a lot of traffic. I’m not sure what all this user feedback collection process will elucidate for Metro other than the fact that users will want more of everything, and just a better system “in general.”

  5. The current configuration of the majority of MTA lines took place in June,1981. It straightened out the bus lines from their former routes which were created with the ever changing past street car routes. The MTA should be very careful in changing the system that was created in 1981. It follows a very simple system of thru service from point “A” to point “B” without the need to transfer. It has been diluted over the years with unneeded changes that in many cases has required a transfer to complete ones trip. One only has to look to the lines created or modified by the MTA since it’s creation. Do we really need a system that goes no where and meanders thru L.A. County with hundreds of new transfers necessary to reach ones destination. As a former RTD/MTA employee I can attest those who are making decisions at the MTA are unqualified to do so, they don’t understand public transit.

    • Hi,

      Just tested, it should be working now. Thank you.

      Anna Chen
      Writer, The Source

  7. Well, everyone, since “The Source” reader are both more informed and opinionated about this topic than regular Metro riders, this is our chance to tell Metro how to do it right. If you don’t, then everything you think they did wrong in a few years will be your own fault.
    You had your chance and blew it.

  8. You link to the tool is broken. Delete the “.” at the end of the URL link.