UCLA students traveling east on Wilshire Boulevard toward downtown Los Angeles may find they have one fewer bus route option by June 2007.
The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) has proposed a closure of one bus route, line 21, which runs from UCLA’s Ackerman turnaround to downtown Los Angeles.
Because less than 10 percent of the available riding space was filled by passengers from UCLA, MTA officials believe it would be cost-efficient to discontinue the line, said Mark Maloney, general manager for MTA’s Westside/Central Service Sector.
But some students like Nicky Kajiyama, a student at the Graduate School of Education and Information Studies, said line 21 can be very crowded during rush hour and she is not sure how many other people it may inconvenience. Kajiyama takes the 21 consistently to teach in southern Los Angeles.
“After 4 (p.m.), (the 21) is usually really crowded,” Kajiyama said. “It depends on what time of the day you’re on it.”
After the change, passengers traveling toward downtown can board either line 20 or 720, which both stop at the intersection of Westwood Boulevard and Wilshire Boulevard, according to an MTA document detailing proposed route changes.
The document also said MTA will implement short stops off Wilshire into Westwood and downtown Los Angeles on line 720, which currently runs on Wilshire from Santa Monica to East Los Angeles.
Maloney said though the location of these “short turns” are not set yet, they will not be far from Wilshire Boulevard.
The 720 bus would become an express line, and all buses would be equipped with a bus signal priority device, which coordinates with traffic lights so the bus gets green lights as much as possible.
“This is a service change that will move people quicker,” Maloney said. “There will be more 720 buses now and line 20 will still be in service.”
Because of the high ridership along Wilshire Boulevard, line 720 is also equipped with 60-foot-long buses.
Right now, the main difference between line 720 and the other two lines is that 720 only stops at major intersections instead of at most traffic lights.
The 720 bus would only stop about every half mile after line 21 is discontinued, but line 20 would continue at a slower travel rate and stop more frequently along its route, Maloney said.
“In general, the proposed modifications will improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the public transportation system through a better use of resources,” said the MTA document.
But before the proposed changes become official, MTA plans to consider commentary from community members at public meetings that have been held in the past two months.
Maloney said the proposals would then go to the council that governs MTA for approval sometime next month.
Low UCLA ridership probably will not lead to the closure of any other bus lines, Maloney said.
“The Santa Monica and Culver City buses still get good ridership from UCLA,” Maloney said. “We’re just trying not to duplicate routes that other companies and bus lines are already doing. I don’t expect other changes to occur.”
At 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday, three people waited to board the 21 bus at Ackerman turnaround.
Two said they had never taken it before and one ““ Powell Library staff member Madhuri Sri ““ said she takes the 21 sporadically to go home.
Sri said the cancellation of line 21 probably would not affect her daily life.
“I usually go on the 720, so I’m sure if the 21 is gone I’ll have a lot of other routes to take home,” Sri said.
Nine people came off the 21, including Kajiyama, when it arrived at Ackerman turnaround at 4:35.
Changes to bus routes are part of MTA’s five-point strategic growth plan which started in 2003 to improve workforce efficiency, leadership for the region’s mobility agenda, fiscal responsibility, planning for capital projects, and transit services.