In order to achieve a dramatic reduction of auto-source air toxins and greenhouse gases, the Wilshire Bus Only Lanes campaign aims to implement Bus Only Lanes on the busiest transit corridor in the country, Wilshire Boulevard, to set the stage for a county-wide network bus-only lanes. 

Clean Air organizers and members are leading a growing coalition of environmental and public health groups, elected officials, and directly impacted low-income community residents and bus riders to move the Los Angeles MTA and LA City to build a countywide network of bus-only lanes to curtail the 7-million auto assault of air toxins and greenhouse gases — beginning with the busiest transit corridor in the country.

Wilshire Bus-Only Lanes Breaking New Grounds for Transportation in LA

In the campaign’s most important victory to date, the Bus Riders Union collaborated with allies, LA City Council, MTA, and Congress to secure in the 2009 Federal Budget the first installment of $9.8 million (out of $23.3 million) in federal (FTA) funding for the Wilshire Bus-Only Lanes Project. 

Wilshire Boulevard is the most heavily traveled corridor in the country with over 90,000 daily riders. It is the perfect place  for a new bus lane that would stretch 12.5 miles from Downtown LA to Santa Monica, carrying passengers faster across the county, and potentially attracting thousands of drivers out of their carcinogenic cars.  While one lane of automobiles on Wilshire moves an average of only about 1,200 people per hour, a well-designed bus-only lane has the capacity to carry at least 6,000-7,000 passengers per hour.

The campaign has garnered the support of:

• Over 150 businesses along the Wilshire Corridor
• Public health, environmental and community organizations such as
  NRDC, American Lung Association, Environment California, SEIU 1877,
  Coalition for Community Health, Breathe LA, and
  SOULA 2006 (Security Officers United of Los Angeles), among many
  others.
• The active leadership of key elected officials, including LA City Councilperson Wendy Greuel, and Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard.

What Is At Stake: Building on Rapid Bus Victory

A Wilshire Bus Only lane promises public health outcomes that build on the already impressive results of the “express”-type Rapid Bus service that we won on Wilshire Blvd. In a study conducted by Ryan Snyder, a professional urban planner, the creation of the Wilshire Rapid Bus line saw 35,000 new riders flock to the 20-mile express bus line of whom 17,000 were former auto commuters. He also calculated that this transformation of auto riders into bus riders on this one bus line results in the elimination of 4.1 tons of nitrogen oxides, .5 tons of particular matter, and 83 tons of carbon monoxide annually!

With 660,000 vehicle trips running through the corridor a day, its buses now carry the greatest number of passengers of any bus line in the U.S.—approximately 100,000 weekday transit boardings. That ridership even exceeds the weekday boardings of most of the MTA’s multi-billion dollar rail lines including the Blue Line, Green Line, and the Gold Line. These statistics dramatically reaffirm our call for Bus Only Lanes to the Sea—Not a $7 billion Red Line subway extension to the sea. A rail line under Wilshire Blvd would once again threaten to bankrupt the entire bus system, violate civil and environmental rights, and end the potentially dramatic public health gains that are now in our grasp with bus-centered transit.

History

The recommendation for Wilshire Bus-Only Lanes came out of a study for alternative transit options on the Wilshire corridor where a Bus Rapid Transit was recommended in 2000 and subsequently voted down by L.A. City Council who has the jurisdiction over the city streets. Later the project was de-prioritized by MTA and its funds were taken for the
Exposition Light Rail. In 2004, a one-mile bus-only lanes project was implemented from Barrington to Centinela Avenues along Wilshire Boulevard championed by former Councilmember Cindy Miscicowski.

In 2005, the Clean Air, Clean Lungs, Clean Buses Campaign launched the Wilshire Bus-Only Lanes Campaign.  We immediately hit the streets to organize in order to protect the threatened 1-mile bus-only lane from being cut and demand the project be expanded from Downtown to Santa Monica.  We went organizing door-to-door and signed up over 150 local businesses along the Wilshire Corridor in support of the bus-only lanes.  We built a broad coalition of community and health organizations demanding that L.A. City Council, MTA and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa support Bus Only Lanes to the Sea!

Building on the Wilshire Bus-Only Lanes Victory

MTA is currently working on the environmental assessment report due at the end of this summer. Although funding is secured there's work to be done to ensure that the Wilshire BOL breaks ground this year. Bus Riders Union will be out on the buses and on the streets to enlist your support for the timely implementation of this project.  We're also demanding $150 million for countywide bus-only lanes from the MTA. Now that Wilshire is moving forward we need the down payment for the rest of the county.   

Bus Only Lanes Around the World

Across the world we are witnessing a public health and transit evolution in world cities like Los Angeles. Seoul, London, Paris, and Bogotá are currently rejecting the bankruptcy of highway and rail expansion and implementing bus-centered transit systems, and they are enticing millions of commuters out of their cars and reducing air
pollution. Bogotá Mayor Enrique Peñalosa tackled traffic and air pollution problems in his metropolis of nearly 7 million residents by spearheading a 300-mile system of bus-only lanes, bicycle paths and pedestrian streets that by 2005 dramatically reduced commute times by 32 percent and air pollution by 40 percent. (LA Times, Nov. 8, 2006). Seoul completely revamped their bus system in 2004, including 119 miles of bus-only lanes, attracting 1 million new passengers, the majority of whom were auto drivers. Seoul's weekly No Driving Day program is improving air quality, congestion, and saving energy. Every year, two million cars stay off the road, having already decreasing traffic volume by 3.7 percent (while L.A.’s traffic volume continues to increase substantially each year). CO2 vehicle emissions are being reduced by 10 percent (2 million fewer tons of CO2), and delivering annual savings of $50 million in fuel costs. The improved air quality is also improving the health of residents, saving city residents millions of dollars annually in health costs and fewer missed work days
(Clinton Climate Initiative).