Santa Monica's Big Blue Bus already has real-time arrival information and allows passengers to pay with their Los Angeles Metro TAP cards, but now they're taking a big step towards helping riders connect with the coming Expo Line extension, which is scheduled to open between Culver City and downtown SaMo in the spring of next year. In preparation for the changes to the transit landscape that will follow the arrival of the light rail line, BBB is making several changes to its service, including the addition of a whole new line that will eventually pass by Expo's Bundy Station, says a press release.
Starting August 23, BBB's launching a new line (15) that will run along Barrington Avenue between Brentwood and West LA, and will stop at the future Bundy Station Expo. (The BBB section of the site updated with service change information does note that "limited stops will be available and future stops will be under construction," but hopefully that will be settled by the time the train's up and running.) BBB's Line 5 will have some route changes that will link it to the eventual Palms station too, starting with limited service now.
There were, however, also some route discontinuations: the 6, 13 and Rapid 20 are all gone. (That last one, at least, was just the Expo Culver City route, which will of course be replaced by the train.) All the changes to BBB's routes are listed here.) These route alterations are just the first wave of "Evolution of Blue," the BBB plan to mesh bus service with the new light rail.
· Big Blue Bus Service Changes on August 23, 2015 [BBB]
· Watch an Expo Line Train Pull Into a New Westside Station [Curbed LA]