Long Beach Transit

This article is about the bus system in Long Beach, California. For the bus system in Long Beach, New York, see Long Beach Bus.

Long Beach Transit

Long Beach Transit New Flyer GE40LFA
Parent	Long Beach Public Transportation Company
Founded	March 31, 1963 (60 years ago)
Headquarters	1963 East Anaheim Street
Locale	Long Beach, Paramount, Signal Hill, Carson and Lakewood, CA
Service type	Bus service, Watertaxi
Routes	39 fixed routes
Fleet	220
Daily ridership	60,700 (weekdays, Q3 2024)
Annual ridership	17,780,100 (2023)
Fuel type	Diesel, Gasoline-electric hybrid, CNG
Operator	Long Beach Public Transportation Company
Website	ridelbt.com

Long Beach Transit (LBT) is a municipal transit company providing fixed and flexible bus transit services in Long Beach, California, United States, in other communities in south and southeast Los Angeles County, and northwestern Orange County. Long Beach Transit also operates the Passport shuttle, Aquabus, and Aqualink. The service, while operated on behalf of the City of Long Beach, is not operated directly by the city (such as is done with the bus service operated by the City of Santa Monica), but by a separate nonprofit corporation, the Long Beach Public Transportation Company, operated for that purpose. In 2023, the system had a ridership of 17,780,100, or about 60,700 per weekday as of the third quarter of 2024.

Long Beach Transit receives its operating revenue from farebox receipts and state tax revenue distributed by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

History

Long Beach Transit began operation in 1963 with the acquisition of Long Beach City Lines and Long Beach Motor Bus Company from National City Lines. The primary service area of Long Beach Transit has been the city of Long Beach and to a limited extent the enclave city of Signal Hill, but it has also provided service to surrounding communities in Los Angeles County, including Lakewood, Cerritos, Norwalk, and Seal Beach in neighboring Orange County.

The company has operated various types of bus services. During the 1970s and 1980s, it also ran small shuttle buses in the downtown area, called DASH (for Downtown Area Short Hops), and because the routes were shorter, the fare was lower than on the regular buses.

Transfers

2007 New Flyer Low Floor (GE40LF)

Originally, bus transfers could be obtained upon payment of $0.05 for local transfers, and $0.10 for "interagency transfers", which allow transfer to another bus line without additional payment (except for express service). Throughout the 1970s and early 1980s, instead of using a common transfer with the route number punched on the transfer, each route had its own transfer with the route number printed on them. For transfers to other bus lines, Long Beach Transit used the consolidated Los Angeles County interagency transfer, which every bus company in Los Angeles County except RTD (now Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority) and Orange County Transit District (now Orange County Transportation Authority) used (both RTD and OCTD regular transfers worked for both their own buses and as an interagency transfer). The consolidated interagency transfer used by all the other transit agencies even had a check box naming the twelve bus companies in the county, and the driver would punch the box for the particular agency that issued the transfer. During the mid-1970s (sometime between 1972 and 1976), for a period of six months, a special subsidy was available. All bus trips in Los Angeles County were reduced from approximately $0.80 to $1.25, to $0.25 on weekdays and Saturdays, and $0.10 on Sunday (bus trips outside the county were subject to the regular rate). As a result, the issuance of transfers was discontinued for all trips within Los Angeles County. When the subsidy ended, the old price returned and bus companies resumed issuing transfers.

In the early 1980s, the company changed its transfer system. Instead of using books of transfers, every bus has a ticket printer, which issues the three types of transfers: regular transfers, which allow the user to transfer to a different route; "emergency" transfers (typically used if the customer becomes sick and has to get off the bus), which allow the user to get back on the same route; and interagency transfers, which allow the user to transfer to a different bus company (and gave the user an additional 1 hour of time before it expires), such as Orange County Transit, RTD (now LA Metro), Norwalk Transit and Cerritos Transit (now Cerritos on Wheels) buses. In case of machine failure, however, operators would still carry one book of each kind of transfers.

Effective in 1999, Long Beach Transit instituted a day pass, and on July 1, 2005, it eliminated transfers within the system, although the interagency transfer is available for transfers to other transit systems.

Water taxis

In addition to regular service, Long Beach Transit operates two year-round water taxi services: the 49-passenger AquaBus, and the 75-passenger AquaLink, which connects the major attractions of Downtown Long Beach, including the Aquarium of the Pacific, Long Beach Cruise Terminal, and the RMS Queen Mary hotel. In 2023, the two water routes had a ridership of 62,200, or about 400 per weekday as of the third quarter of 2024.

Water Taxi services have been paused until 2024

Route	Terminals		Via	Notes
AquaBus	Downtown Long Beach Aquarium of the Pacific, Dock 4	Long Beach Queen Mary	Queensway Bay	The 49-passenger AquaBus has six "ports of call": Dock 4 of the Aquarium of the Pacific, Queen Mary, Shoreline Village at Larry H. Parker's Lighthouse, Catalina Landing, Dock 7 of Pine Avenue Circle, and Hotel Maya. The fare is $1.
AquaLink	Downtown Long Beach Aquarium of the Pacific, Dock 4	Long Beach Alamitos Bay Landing	Queensway Bay	The AquaLink is a 68-foot catamaran that ferries up to 75 passengers to the most popular attractions in Long Beach Harbor and on to Alamitos Bay Landing. The fare is $5, and wheelchair boarding is available at Dock 4 near the Aquarium of the Pacific and at the Queen Mary.

Routes

A LBT bus stop

History

Originally, Long Beach Transit operated its bus lines as a consecutive set of route numbers, from 1 to 18. The numbers had no significance except that route 1 ran along State Route 1, the Pacific Coast Highway. (This is the same number currently used by the Orange County Transit Authority for its route that runs on Route 1.) Some routes had more than one routing; for example, the number 9 route ran from Downtown along 7th Street to California State University, Long Beach. All of the route 9 buses would continue along Bellflower Boulevard, whereupon one would terminate at Bellflower and Stearns Street; one would turn at Willow Street and continue along Woodruff Avenue; another would continue on Bellflower all the way to Alondra Boulevard; and another would also continue to Alondra but take a slight detour to the Lakewood Center shopping mall.

Possibly due to the successful renumbering which RTD had done in 1983, Long Beach Transit also decided to renumber its routes. In the mid-1980s, the company changed some of its route numbers, keeping the original 1- or 2-digit number and adding a single digit after the number. This was done to routes which split and serviced multiple streets and destinations. The route 9, as indicated above, was renumbered into routes 91, 92, 93, and 94, based on the street and destination while routes that only served one street and destination remained the same with their original 1 or 2 digit route number, example Line 1 which still remains. Additional routes have since been added, generally using the same system. For example, if a route extends part of an existing route, it takes the first one (or two) digits of the major route number, then adds a new additional digit on the end. This is why there is now a route 96, which did not exist at the time of the original route 9.

On August 16, 2021, Long Beach Transit announced they would be extending their services to Carson with three new routes. They are set to launch on September 19, 2021. At the moment, Long Beach Transit is focusing on the middle tier, which would connect riders to major destinations in and around the city, including Harbor–UCLA Medical Center, Carson High School, Rancho Dominguez Preparatory School, CSUDH, Metro A Line Wardlow and Del Amo stations, Carson Community Center/City Hall, and SouthBay Pavilion.

Local routes

Route #	Terminals		Via	Days of operation	Notes
1	Carson Cal State Dominguez Hills	Rancho Dominguez Del Amo station	Avalon Bl, Del Amo Bl	Daily
2	Carson Cal State Dominguez Hills	Carson Figueroa St & Sepulveda Bl	Central Av, Avalon Bl	Monday-Saturday
4	Carson Carson St & Vermont Av	Rancho Dominguez Del Amo station	Carson Street	Monday-Saturday
8	Carson 223rd St & Vermont Av	Long Beach Wardlow station	223rd Street	Monday-Saturday
21	Downtown Long Beach 1st St & Long Beach Bl	Paramount Garfield Av & Petrol St	Cherry Av	Daily
22	Downtown Long Beach 1st St & Long Beach Bl	Downey Lakewood Boulevard Station	Cherry Av	Daily
23	Downtown Long Beach 1st St & Long Beach Bl	Paramount Rosecrans Av & Garfield Av	Cherry Av	Daily
Passport (37)	Downtown Long Beach 10th St & Pine Av	Long Beach Queen Mary	Pine Av	Friday, Saturday, Sunday
41	Long Beach CSULB	Long Beach Wardlow station	Easy Av, Harbor Av, Anaheim St	Daily
45	Long Beach Santa Fe Av & Cowles St	Long Beach Anaheim St & PCH	Anaheim St	Daily
46	Downtown Long Beach 1st St & Pine Av	Long Beach Anaheim St & PCH	Anaheim St	Daily
51	Downtown Long Beach 1st St & Pine Av	Compton Artesia station	Long Beach Bl	Daily
61	Downtown Long Beach 1st St & Pine Av	Compton Artesia station	Atlantic Av	Daily
71	Downtown Long Beach 1st St & Pine Av	Downey Lakewood Bl & Century Bl	Alamitos Av, Orange Av	Daily
91	Downtown Long Beach 1st St & Pine Av	Long Beach Woodruff Av & Alondra Bl	7th St	Daily
92	Downtown Long Beach 1st St & Pine Av	Long Beach Woodruff Av & Alondra Bl	7th St	Weekdays
93	Downtown Long Beach 1st St & Pine Av	Long Beach Woodruff Av & Alondra Bl	7th St	Weekdays
94	Downtown Long Beach 1st St & Pine Av	Long Beach Bellflower Bl & Stearns St	7th St	Daily
96 ZAP	Long Beach 6th St & Long Beach Bl	Long Beach CSULB	7th St	Weekdays during Fall and Spring Semesters
101	Long Beach Santa Fe Av & 25th St	Hawaiian Gardens Carson St & Norwalk Bl	Willow St	Daily
102	Long Beach Santa Fe Av & 25th St	Hawaiian Gardens Carson St & Norwalk Bl	Willow St	Weekdays
103	Long Beach Santa Fe Av & 25th St	Lakewood Lakewood Center	Willow St	Daily
104	Long Beach Santa Fe Av & 25th St	Hawaiian Gardens Carson St & Norwalk Bl	Willow St	Daily
111	Downtown Long Beach 1st St & Pine Av	Lakewood South St & Downey Av	Broadway	Daily
112	Downtown Long Beach 1st St & Pine Av	Lakewood South St & Downey Av	Broadway	Daily
121	Long Beach PCH & Clark Av	Long Beach Catalina Landing	Ocean Bl	Daily
131	Long Beach Wardlow station	Long Beach Alamitos Bay	Redondo Av	Daily
141	Compton Artesia station	Cerritos Los Cerritos Center	Artesia Bl	Daily
151	Long Beach Cesar E. Chavez Park	Long Beach 4th St & Ximeno Av	4th St	Daily
171	Long Beach Villages at Cabrillo	Seal Beach Electric Av & Main Av	Pacific Coast Hwy	Daily
172	Downtown Long Beach 1st St & Pine Av	Norwalk Norwalk station Cerritos Los Cerritos Center (172, M-F)	Pacific Coast Hwy	Daily
173	Downtown Long Beach 1st St & Pine Av	Norwalk Norwalk Station	Pacific Coast Hwy	Daily
174	Downtown Long Beach 1st St & Pine Av	Long beach PCH & Ximeno Av	Pacific Coast Hwy	Daily
175	Long Beach Villages at Cabrillo	Long Beach CSULB	Pacific Coast Hwy	Weekdays
181	Downtown Long Beach 1st St & Pine Av	Long Beach Wardlow station	Magnolia Av	Daily
182	Downtown Long Beach 1st St & Pine Av	Long Beach Wardlow station	Pacific Av	Daily
191	Downtown Long Beach 1st St & Pine Av	Lakewood Bloomfield Av & Del Amo Bl	Santa Fe Av, Magnolia Av	Daily
192	Downtown Long Beach 1st St & Pine Av	Cerritos Los Cerritos Center	Santa Fe Av, Magnolia Av	Daily
405 Express	Long Beach Airport	UCLA Gateway Plaza	Interstate 405	Weekdays	UCLA/Westwood Commuter Express (formerly Route 510)

Decommissioned routes

Route	Termini		Major street(s)	Fate	Notes
5	Long Beach Transit Mall	Artesia Station	Long Beach Boulevard	Replaced with Routes 51, 52
7	Long Beach Transit Mall	Rosecrans Avenue	Orange Avenue Alamitos Avenue	Replaced with Routes 71, 72 (Route 72 decommissioned in 2019)
23	Long Beach Transit Mall	Carson Street	Cherry Avenue	decommissioned; revived in 2020 as a new route
52	Long Beach Transit Mall	Artesia Station	Long Beach Boulevard Victoria Street	decommissioned	Deviated from route 51 via Victoria St and Santa Fe Ave in North Long Beach
62	Long Beach Transit Mall	Alondra Boulevard	Atlantic Avenue	decommissioned	Ran alongside 61, & 63 until Artesia Blvd which then solo to Alondra Blvd
63	Long Beach Transit Mall	Artesia Boulevard	Atlantic Avenue	decommissioned	Served northbound during peak hours only
66 ZAP	Long Beach Transit Mall	Artesia Station	Atlantic Avenue	decommissioned	Ran alongside Route 61, Partially 62, & 63
72	Long Beach Transit Mall	Rosecrans Avenue	Orange Avenue Alamitos Avenue Hunsaker Avenue	decommissioned	Deviated from route 71 via Artesia Blvd, Atlanta Ave, Hunsaker Ave, and Alondra Blvd in Paramount
176 ZAP	Villages at Cabrillo	LBCC Liberal Arts Campus	Pacific Coast Highway Lakewood Boulevard	decommissioned	Ran alongside 170s on PCH, and 111 on Lakewood Blvd
193	Long Beach Transit Mall	Del Amo Station	Santa Fe Avenue	decommissioned	Possibly decommissioned in favor of Route 1 due to its current route (see above)
194	Long Beach Transit Mall	Del Amo Station	Santa Fe Avenue Hughes Way	decommissioned	Possibly decommissioned in favor of Route 1 due to its current route (see above)
Passport A	Catalina Bay Landing	Alamitos Bay	Ocean Boulevard 2nd Street	Partially absorbed into Route 121, remaining portion absorbed into Route 131.	Free Service
Passport B	Cesar Chavez Park(West) Long Beach Transit Mall(East)	Long Beach Transit Mall(West) Colorado Logoon(East)	4th Street(All Lines)	Replaced with Route 151	Free Service Only Route in the LBT to be split, rather than one
Passport C	Downtown Long Beach	Queen Mary	Pine Avenue	Absorbed into Current Passport Route	Free Service
Passport D	Catalina Bay Landing	Traffic Circle Atherton and Outer Circle	Ocean Boulevard 2nd Street Bellflower Boulevard	Replaced with Route 121	Free Service
Pine Avenue Link	Downtown Long Beach	Aquarium of the Pacific	Pine Avenue	Absorbed into Passport C, which in turn was absorbed into current Passport route	Free Service

Bus fleet

As of 2018, Long Beach Transit's fleet is composed of mostly New Flyer buses, which are the GE40LF, GE40LFA, XN40, and XN60 models. It also has a large number of Gillig BRT+ models, a decreasing number of New Flyer D40LF models, and one Prévost coach used for charters. It also uses the battery-powered BYD K9 buses, as well as the relatively new New Flyer XE35. These zero-emissions buses are mainly used for the Passport zero-fare service and a few extra routes, such as the 40s routes, 131, 151, and 180s routes.

Long Beach Transit has had several major firsts. It was the first agency to:

• Operate the General Motors RTS bus in the late 1970s, in addition to other variants
• Operate the first gasoline-electric buses in the world
• Use the first Gillig bus powered by CNG

The buses have four-digit numbers, of which the first two digits represent the year the bus was put into service. Buses numbered 90## (the ## representing number in fleet) entered service in the 1990s, 20## - 29## entered service in the 2000s, and 12## - 18## entered service in the 2010s.

Long Beach Transit buses are operated out of 2 yards:

• Headquarters
• Jackson Transit Center

Most buses are stored at the headquarters on Anaheim Street. The articulated buses are stored at the Jackson Transit Center bus depot in Long Beach, CA. Both bus depots are located on Cherry Avenue.

Active fleet

Make/Model	Fleet Numbers	Thumbnail	Year	Engine	Transmission	Notes
Gillig BRT CNG 40	1201		2011	Cummins Westport ISL G	ZF 6HP594C	1201 is a 2011 demo unit and was Gillig's first CNG-powered bus. Replaced 1996–97 D40LFs and 2001 Opus
Gillig BRT CNG 40	1202-1233		2012	Cummins Westport ISL G	ZF 6HP594C	Replaced 1996–97 D40LFs and 2001 Opus
Gillig BRT CNG 40	1301-1331		2012	Cummins Westport ISL G	ZF 6HP594C	Replaced 1996–97 D40LFs and 2001 Opus
New Flyer XN60	1501-1513		2015	Cummins Westport ISL G	ZF 6HP594C	Replaced D60LFs
Gillig BRT CNG 40	1521-1528		2015	Cummins Westport ISL G	ZF 6HP594C	Replaced 1996–97 D40LFs and 2001 Opus
BYD K9	1601-1610		2016			First electric buses in fleet.
New Flyer XN40	1801-1840		2017-2018	Cummins Westport ISL G NZ	ZF 6AP1400B	Includes options for 89 buses until 2021. Replaced 1998–2000 D40LFs
Prevost H3-45	2000		2000	Detroit Diesel Series 60	Allison B500R	Used for charters and special events.
New Flyer GE40LF	2401-2427		2005	Ford Triton V10	ISE TB40-HG hybrid system	First gas-electric buses in the world to enter public service 2401 was retired following an accident
New Flyer GE40LF	2501-2520		2005	Ford Triton V10	ISE TB40-HG hybrid system
New Flyer GE40LF	2521-2522		2005	Ford Triton V10	ISE TB40-HG hybrid system	2521 and 2522 were originally from OCTA
New Flyer GE40LF	2701-2715		2007	Ford Triton V10	ISE TB40-HG hybrid system
New Flyer GE40LFA	2901-2925		2008-2009	Ford Triton V10	ISE TB40-HG hybrid system	The only LFA buses to use gasoline First buses to feature current red/orange livery. Replaced 1994 D40LFs
BYD K9M	16011-16024		2021
New Flyer XE35	16025–16044		2022			Units entering service throughout 2023. Replacing 2002 D40LFs and 2005 GE40LFs

Five (5) battery electric high-floor commuter busses are currently on order and due to be delivered in Q1 2024. However, LBT has not publicly disclosed whether they have chosen to purchase the 45-ft busses from Motor Coach Industries (MCI) or BYD, the only two manufacturers that currently sell models in the aforementioned category in North America.

Retired fleet

Year	Manufacturer	Model	Fleet numbers	Notes
1991	OBI	Orion II (02.501)	101-110	Used on AquaLink & The Passport.
1992	OBI	Orion II (02.501)	111-115	1991 models. Used on AquaLink & The Passport.
1996	OBI	Orion II CNG (02.501)	116-120	Used on AquaLink & The Passport.
1992	OBI	Orion II (02.501)	121-124	Ex-? Used on AquaLink & The Passport.
1998	OBI	Orion II (02.501)	125-128	Used on AquaLink & The Passport.
1990	OBI	Orion II (02.501)	129-130	Ex-Madison County Transit 105 & 107. Used on AquaLink & The Passport.
1973	GMC	TDH-3302A	144-147
2000	NFI	D40LF	2001–2018	Retired in summer 2018
2001	Chance	Opus	2101-2130	Used on Passport routes (A to D) until August 26, 2012.
2002	NFI	D40LF	2201-2239	Retired in 2023
2002	NFI	D60LF	2301-2313	Used on routes 51, 101, 102, 103, and 104 Retired in 2015.
1979	GMC	RTS-03 (T7H-603)	3501-3525	3508, 3507, 3524, 3522, 3520 & 3518 to Kitsap Transit 824-829.
1965	GMC	SDM-4502	4101
1975	GMC	T6H-4523A	4201-4215
1981	GMC	RTS-04 (T8J-604)	4401-4451
1983	GMC	RTS-04 (T8J-604)	4452-4476	1984 models.
1985	GMC	RTS-04 (T8J-604)	4477
1987	GMC	RTS-06 (T8J-606)	4478-4491	1986 models.
1965	GMC	SDM-4502	4500
1963	GMC	TDH-4519	4516-4530
1965	GMC	TDH-4519	4531-4556	4547 to CyRide 870. 4556 was chopped down to 30 feet by TDT (Transportation Design and Technology?) in San Diego, CA. It spotted on eBay in Palm Springs, CA at an unknown time. It was sold to a 2nd private owner in West Oakland, CA and was spotted in August 2018 & on 11/30/2019. (Lic. Plate: HV040P).
1966	GMC	TDH-4519	4557-4561
1968	GMC	T6H-4521	4562-4576	4565 & 4574 to CyRide 869 & 872.
1969	GMC	T6H-4521A	4577-4581
1970	GMC	T6H-4521A	4582-4601
1972	GMC	T6H-4523A	4602-4606
1977	GMC	RTS-01 (TH-8201)	4701-4715	First production RTS buses to be manufactured.
1979	GMC	RTS-03 (T8H-203)	4716-4725
1963	GMC	TDH-5303	5101-5110	5110 to CyRide 884. 5106 and 5108 preserved by Richfield Bus Company.
1964	GMC	TDH-5303	5111-5125
1967	GMC	TDH-5303	5126-5130
1989	TMC	RTS-06 (T80-606)	8901-8917	Retired in 2004–05.
1989	TMC	RTS-06 (T80-206)	8918-8927	8918-8925 were originally numbered 8951–8958. Retired in 2004–05.
1991	TMC	RTS-06 (T80-606)	9001-9026	1990 models. Retired in 2004–05.
1992	TMC	RTS-08 (T80-608)	9201-9220	Retired in 2004–05.
1993	TMC	RTS-08 (T80-608)	9301-9320	Retired in 2004–05.
1995	NFI	D40LF	9401-9420	Retired in 2009.
1996	NFI	D40LF	9601-9625	Retired in January 2013.
1997	NFI	D40LF	9701-9720	Retired in summer 2018 9708 and 9714 were the last active units.
1998	NFI	D40LF	9801-9816	Retired in summer 2018 9815 and 9816 were the last active units.

References

Further reading

• Simon, Renee B. (2013). Long Beach Transit: 50 Years of Moving our Community Forward. Long Beach: Long Beach Transit. ISBN 978-0-615-76667-6. Retrieved 2018-10-21.

External links

• Official website
• Long Beach Transit bus routes and descriptions