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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Lars Smiley (talk | contribs) at 18:31, 7 August 2024 (→Active fleet [1]: Simplified). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

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
ParentLong Beach Public Transportation Company
FoundedMarch 31, 1963 (61 years ago)
Headquarters1963 East Anaheim Street
LocaleLong Beach, Paramount, Signal Hill, Carson and Lakewood, CA
Service typeBus service, Watertaxi
Routes38 fixed routes
Fleet220
Daily ridership60,700 (weekdays, Q3 2024)[1]
Annual ridership17,780,100 (2023)[2]
Fuel typeDiesel, Gasoline-electric hybrid, CNG, battery electric
OperatorLong Beach Public Transportation Company
Websiteridelbt.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.[3] 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.[3]

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.[3]

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.[4]

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,[5] 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.

Route Terminals Via Notes
AquaBus Long Beach
Aquarium of the Pacific 		Long Beach
Queen Mary 		Queensway Bay
  • The 49-passenger AquaBus has six "ports of call": the Aquarium of the Pacific, Queen Mary, Shoreline Village, Catalina Landing, Pine Avenue Circle, and Hotel Maya.
  • The fare is $1 one-way
AquaLink Long Beach
Alamitos Bay Landing
  • The AquaLink is a 68-foot catamaran that ferries up to 75 passengers to attractions in Long Beach Harbor and on to Alamitos Bay Landing.
  • The fare is $5 one-way.

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.[3]

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.[6] 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.[7]

Local routes

Route Terminals Via Notes
Passport
[8] 		Long Beach
10th St & Pine Av 		Long Beach
Queen Mary 		Pine Av
1
[9] 		Carson
Cal State Dominguez Hills 		Rancho Dominguez
Del Amo station 		Avalon Bl, Del Amo Bl
2
[10] 		Carson
Cal State Dominguez Hills 		Carson
Figueroa St & Carriagedale Dr 		Central Av, Avalon Bl
  • Serves Dignity Health Sports Park and SouthBay Pavilion
4
[11] 		Carson
Carson St & Vermont Av 		Rancho Dominguez
Del Amo station 		Carson Street
8
[12] 		Carson
223rd St & Vermont Av 		Long Beach
Wardlow station 		223rd Street
21
[13] 		Long Beach
Downtown Long Beach station 		Paramount
Garfield Av & Petrol St 		Cherry Av
22
[13] 		Long Beach
Downtown Long Beach station 		Downey
Lakewood Boulevard station 		Cherry Av, Downey Av
23
[13] 		Long Beach
Downtown Long Beach station 		Paramount
Garfield Av & Rosecrans Av 		Cherry Av, Paramount Bl
41
[14] 		Long Beach
Cal State Long Beach 		Long Beach
Wardlow station 		Easy Av, Anaheim St
45
[14] 		Long Beach
Cal State Long Beach 		Long Beach
Anaheim St & Santa Fe Av 		Anaheim St
  • Route 45 will only operate as resources allow during school commute times
  • Serves Anaheim Street station
46
[14] 		Long Beach
Cal State Long Beach 		Long Beach
Downtown Long Beach station 		Anaheim St
  • Serves Anaheim Street station, 5th Street station and 1st Street station
51
[15] 		Long Beach
Downtown Long Beach station 		Compton
Artesia station 		Long Beach Bl
61
[16] 		Long Beach
Downtown Long Beach station 		Compton
Artesia station 		Atlantic Av
  • Serves Compton College
71
[17] 		Long Beach
Downtown Long Beach station 		Downey
Lakewood Bl & Century Bl 		Alamitos Av, Orange Av
91
[18] 		Long Beach
Downtown Long Beach station 		Long Beach
Alondra Bl & Woodruff Av 		7th St, Bellflower Bl
  • Serves 1st Street station, 5th Street station and Cal State Long Beach
92
[18] 		Long Beach
Downtown Long Beach station 		Long Beach
Woodruff Av & Alondra Bl 		7th St, Woodruff Av
  • Serves 1st Street station, 5th Street station and Cal State Long Beach
93
[18] 		Long Beach
Downtown Long Beach station 		Long Beach
Alondra Bl & Woodruff Av 		7th St, Clark Av
  • Serves 1st Street station, 5th Street station, Cal State Long Beach and Lakewood Center
94
[18] 		Long Beach
Downtown Long Beach station 		Long Beach
Bellflower Bl & Stearns St 		7th St
  • Serves 1st Street station, 5th Street station and Cal State Long Beach
101
[19] 		Long Beach
Santa Fe Av & 25th St 		Hawaiian Gardens
Carson St & Norwalk Bl 		Willow St, Carson St
  • Serves Long Beach City College
102
[20] 		Long Beach
Santa Fe Av & 25th St 		Hawaiian Gardens
Carson St & Norwalk Bl 		Willow St, Spring St, Wardlow Rd
103
[19] 		Long Beach
Santa Fe Av & 25th St 		Lakewood
Lakewood Center 		Willow St, Carson St
  • Serves Long Beach City College
104
[20] 		Long Beach
Santa Fe Av & 25th St 		Hawaiian Gardens
Carson St & Norwalk Bl 		Willow St, Spring St
111
[21] 		Long Beach
Downtown Long Beach station 		Lakewood
South St & Downey Av 		Broadway, Lakewood Bl
  • Serves 1st Street station, Long Beach Airport and Lakewood Center
112
[21] 		Long Beach
Downtown Long Beach station 		Lakewood
South St & Downey Av 		Broadway, Clark Av
  • Serves 1st Street station, Long Beach City College and Lakewood Center
121
[22] 		Long Beach
PCH & Clark Av 		Long Beach
Catalina Landing 		Ocean Bl
  • Serves Cal State Long Beach, 1st Street station and Downtown Long Beach station
131
[23] 		Long Beach
Wardlow station 		Long Beach
Alamitos Bay 		Redondo Av
141
[24] 		Compton
Artesia station 		Cerritos
Los Cerritos Center 		Artesia Bl
  • Serves Compton College
151
[25] 		Long Beach
Cesar E. Chavez Park 		Long Beach
4th St & Ximeno Av 		4th St
  • Serves Downtown Long Beach station
171
[26] 		Long Beach
Villages at Cabrillo 		Seal Beach
Electric Av & Main Av 		Pacific Coast Hwy
  • Serves Pacific Coast Highway station, Long Beach City College and Cal State Long Beach
172
[27] 		Long Beach
Downtown Long Beach station 		Norwalk
Norwalk station 		Pacific Coast Hwy, Palos Verde Av
  • Serves 1st Street station, 5th Street station, Pacific Coast Highway station and Long Beach City College
Cerritos
Los Cerritos Center
(weekdays)
173
[27] 		Long Beach
Downtown Long Beach station 		Norwalk
Norwalk station 		Pacific Coast Hwy, Studebaker Rd
  • Serves 1st Street station, 5th Street station, Pacific Coast Highway station, Long Beach City College, Cal State Long Beach, Los Cerritos Center and Cerritos College
174
[27] 		Long Beach
Downtown Long Beach station 		Long Beach
PCH & Ximeno Av 		Pacific Coast Hwy
  • Serves 1st Street station, 5th Street station, Pacific Coast Highway station and Long Beach City College
175
[26] 		Long Beach
Villages at Cabrillo 		Long Beach
Cal State Long Beach 		Pacific Coast Hwy
  • Serves Pacific Coast Highway station and Long Beach City College
181
[28] 		Long Beach
Downtown Long Beach station 		Long Beach
Wardlow station 		Magnolia Av
182
[28] 		Long Beach
Downtown Long Beach station 		Long Beach
Wardlow station 		Pacific Av
191
[29] 		Long Beach
Downtown Long Beach station 		Lakewood
Bloomfield Av & Del Amo Bl 		Santa Fe Av, Del Amo Bl
  • Serves Del Amo station and Lakewood Center
192
[29] 		Long Beach
Downtown Long Beach station 		Cerritos
Los Cerritos Center 		Santa Fe Av, South St
  • Serves Del Amo station

Express routes

Route Terminals Via Notes
405
[30] 		Long Beach
Long_Beach_Airport Long Beach Airport 		Westwood
UCLA 		I-405
Galaxy Express
[31] 		Gardena
Harbor Gateway Transit Center 		Carson
Dignity Health Sports Park 		Victoria St
  • Fare-free services
Rancho Dominguez
Del Amo station 		Del Amo Bl

Bus fleet

As of 2024, 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 and BYD K9M buses,[32] as well as the relatively new New Flyer XE35.

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 [33]

Make/Model Fleet Numbers Thumbnails Year Notes
Gillig BRT CNG 40' 1201 2011
  • 1201 is a 2011 demo unit and was Gillig's first CNG-powered bus
1202–1233
1227 on the 71 to Lakewood/Rosecrans
 2012
1301–1331 2013
New Flyer XN60 1501–1513 2015
  • 2014 models
Gillig BRT CNG 40' 1521–1528 2015
BYD K9 1601–1610 2016
  • First electric buses for Long Beach Transit
New Flyer XN40 1801-1840
1816 on the 61 Atlantic to Downtown
 2017-2018
  • 1801 is a 2017 New Flyer XN40 demo unit
New Flyer GE40LF 2401-2427
2414 layover at Los Cerritos Center
 2004
  • First gas-electric buses in the world to enter public service
  • 2401 was retired following an accident
2501-2520
Northbound GE40LF on the 91
 2005
2521-2522
  • Originally from OCTA
2701-2715
2706 on the Passport Queen Mary
 2007
New Flyer GE40LFA 2901-2925
2906 to Catalina Landing
 2008–2009
  • 2008 models
  • The only GE40LFA buses ever built by New Flyer Industries
  • First buses to feature new paint scheme
BYD K9M 16011-16024
16011 on the Passport Northbound
 2021
New Flyer XE35 16025–16044
16040 on the 182 Pacific to Downtown
 2022
  • First New Flyer XE35 in California

Five (5) BYD C10M coaches and their associated charging infrastructure are on order and expected to be delivered in Q1 2024. These will provide service on LBT's 405 Commuter Express Route to UCLA.

References

  1. ^ "Transit Ridership Report Third Quarter 2024" (PDF). American Public Transportation Association. November 20, 2024. Retrieved November 23, 2024.
  2. ^ "Transit Ridership Report Fourth Quarter 2023" (PDF). American Public Transportation Association. March 4, 2024. Retrieved September 5, 2024.
  3. ^ a b c d Remembering RTD and the "good old days" of cheap LA area public transit Archived 2014-11-29 at the Wayback Machine, paul-robinson.us, January 9, 2012
  4. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on April 16, 2014. Retrieved May 5, 2012.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  5. ^ "Water Taxis". Long Beach Transit. Retrieved February 26, 2024.
  6. ^ "Carson Service".
  7. ^ "City of Carson City Council Meeting, July 20, 2021". City of Carson. July 20, 2021. Retrieved September 1, 2021.
  8. ^ "Passport". Long Beach Transit. Retrieved February 26, 2024.
  9. ^ "Route 1". Long Beach Transit. Retrieved February 26, 2024.
  10. ^ "Route 2". Long Beach Transit. Retrieved February 26, 2024.
  11. ^ "Route 4". Long Beach Transit. Retrieved February 26, 2024.
  12. ^ "Route 8". Long Beach Transit. Retrieved February 26, 2024.
  13. ^ a b c "Routes 21/22/23". Long Beach Transit. Retrieved February 26, 2024.
  14. ^ a b c "Routes 41/45/46". Long Beach Transit. Retrieved February 26, 2024.
  15. ^ "Route 51". Long Beach Transit. Retrieved February 26, 2024.
  16. ^ "Route 61". Long Beach Transit. Retrieved February 26, 2024.
  17. ^ "Route 71". Long Beach Transit. Retrieved February 26, 2024.
  18. ^ a b c d "Routes 91/92/93/94". Long Beach Transit. Retrieved February 26, 2024.
  19. ^ a b "Routes 101/103". Long Beach Transit. Retrieved February 26, 2024.
  20. ^ a b "Route 102 & 104". Long Beach Transit. Retrieved February 26, 2024.
  21. ^ a b "Route 111/112". Long Beach Transit. Retrieved February 26, 2024.
  22. ^ "Route 121". Long Beach Transit. Retrieved February 26, 2024.
  23. ^ "Route 131". Long Beach Transit. Retrieved February 26, 2024.
  24. ^ "Route 141". Long Beach Transit. Retrieved February 26, 2024.
  25. ^ "Route 151". Long Beach Transit. Retrieved February 26, 2024.
  26. ^ a b "Routes 171/175". Long Beach Transit. Retrieved February 26, 2024.
  27. ^ a b c "Routes 172/173/174". Long Beach Transit. Retrieved February 26, 2024.
  28. ^ a b "Routes 181/182". Long Beach Transit. Retrieved February 26, 2024.
  29. ^ a b "Routes 191/192". Long Beach Transit. Retrieved February 26, 2024.
  30. ^ "Route 405". Long Beach Transit. Retrieved February 26, 2024.
  31. ^ lagalaxy. "LA Galaxy". lagalaxy. Retrieved February 26, 2024.
  32. ^ Branson-Potts, Hailey (April 27, 2015). "Long Beach Transit agrees to purchase electric buses". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 31, 2015.
  33. ^ "LBT Sustainability". Long Beach Transit. Retrieved February 26, 2024.

Further reading

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