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	38 fixed routes
Fleet	220
Daily ridership	60,800 (weekdays, Q4 2023) [1]
Annual ridership	17,780,100 (2023) [2]
Fuel type	Diesel, Gasoline-electric hybrid, CNG, battery electric
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 60,800 per weekday as of the fourth quarter of 2023.

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

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 ^[5]

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 0 per weekday as of the fourth quarter of 2023.

Service is expected to be back in Spring 2024

Routes

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	Serves 5th Street station, 1st Street station, Long Beach Convention Center and Aquarium of the Pacific Fare-free service
1 [9]	Carson Cal State Dominguez Hills	Rancho Dominguez Del Amo station	Avalon Bl, Del Amo Bl	Serves Dignity Health Sports Park and SouthBay Pavilion
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	Serves Anaheim Street station
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	Serves 1st Street station, 5th Street station, Anaheim Street station, Pacific Coast Highway station, Willow Street station and Compton College
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	Serves Long Beach City College
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	Serves Long Beach Airport
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	Serves Pacific Avenue station
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
405 Express [30]	Long Beach   Long Beach Airport	Westwood UCLA	I-405	Branded UCLA/Westwood Commuter Express Serves Willow Street station
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]

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

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 October 21, 2018.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Long Beach Transit (California).

• Official website
• Long Beach Transit bus routes and descriptions