Nightly Closure: 5/20 Colorado Ave. closure between 5th St. & 6th St. (Santa Monica)
Rapid 10: Bus stop relocation on Olive St. at 9th St. (Downtown LA)
Route 2: Westbound stop on Wilshire Blvd. at Berkeley St. temporarily closed
Route 12: Relocation of eastbound stop on Venice at Robertson (Culver City)
There's a lot to know about the Big Blue Bus! From our humble beginnings back at the turn of the century to the ultra-modern, environmentally friendly transit agency we’ve become today, our goal has always been to provide outstanding service and value to our customers and community.
In the early 1900s, the Pacific Electric Railroad ran trolley lines between Downtown Los Angeles and neighboring cities. During a recession in 1914, a group of unemployed automobile owners began using their cars to compete with the railway in Santa Monica. These drivers charged riders five cents and were called “jitneys,” a common name at the time for a nickel. In 1921, as the population of Santa Monica doubled, business boomed and the jitney drivers incorporated as Bay Cities Transit Company, and they were soon operating buses throughout the city. In 1928, the City of Santa Monica launched its own bus line and over 16,000 passengers rode the new buses the first week. They chose a blue color scheme for their buses and called their service Santa Monica Municipal Bus Lines.