Meeting_Body
OPERATIONS, SAFETY, AND CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE COMMITTEE
JANUARY 15, 2026
Subject
SUBJECT: NEXTGEN RIDERSHIP UPDATE - Q3 CY2025
Action
ACTION: RECEIVE AND FILE
Heading
RECOMMENDATION
Title
RECEIVE AND FILE status update on NextGen Bus Ridership.
Issue
ISSUE
This report provides an assessment of Metro’s bus ridership for the third quarter of calendar year 2025 (Q3 CY2025), consisting of July, August, and September 2025, compared to the pre-pandemic, pre-NextGen Bus Plan ridership from the same period in 2019. Ridership changes are examined by day type (weekday, Saturday, Sunday), service area, across Equity Focus Communities (EFCs) and non-EFCs, time period, line/line group, as well as average passenger trip length.
Background
BACKGROUND
• The Metro Board adopted the NextGen Bus Plan in October 2020.
• The NextGen Bus Plan was designed to create a fast, frequent, and reliable Metro bus system and will be rolled out in two phases: “Reconnect” and “Transit First.”
• Reconnect was the initial phase to restructure the existing network and was implemented over three dates between December 2020 and December 2021.
• Transit First was an additional phase to maximize the plan’s effectiveness through strategic, quick-build capital investments in improved bus speeds and direct revenue service hours (RSHs) saved on bus frequency improvements.
• While the NextGen Bus Plan was fully implemented by the end of 2021, the national operator shortage during the COVID-19 pandemic required Metro to temporarily reduce service by 10% in February 2022 to stabilize service reliability.
• Full restoration of the NextGen Bus Plan service levels was completed in phases by December 2022.
• Full NextGen bus service levels have been operated since then into 2025 with improved reliability due to full bus operator staffing, which was achieved by August 2023.
• A 1-2% operator shortage has existed since December 2023, when the operator requirement increased due to greater peak service from higher ridership and recruitment challenges. Recruitment efforts were increased in response, and overall canceled service levels remained low. However, they were higher than in the second half of CY2023.
• Full operator staffing was again achieved by January 2025, with cancellation rates during the first three quarters of 2025 reduced to generally under 1% on weekdays and Saturdays and below 2% on Sundays.
The NextGen Bus Plan Reconnect phase implementation established a set of service frequency tiers for Metro’s 117 bus lines, summarized in Table 1. Tier 1 and 2 lines are all-day, high-frequency services designed to support ridership growth across the NextGen network and support ridership recovery after a decrease caused by the pandemic. Tier 3 and 4 lines ensure neighborhood connectivity and coverage throughout the service area.
Table 1: NextGen Frequency Tiers as of December 2024
When fully implemented, the Transit First scenario was expected to achieve a 15-20% increase in ridership. This expected ridership was attributed to increased speed of service/reduced travel times after implementing items from the speed and reliability tool kit, including new bus lanes and expanded transit signal priority, with reinvestment of time savings for increased service frequencies. Progress on implementation includes 71.7 miles of new bus priority lanes as of December 2025, and 23 additional lane miles are in planning (Vermont Av) or pending construction (Florence Av, Santa Monica Bl). Transit signal priority is a speed and reliability initiative that should begin implementation in CY2026, with ongoing optimization of bus stops and terminals.
In examining ridership results to date, it is essential to note the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, which began in March 2020 and had significant effects on Metro bus service levels/ridership as well as societal changes such as increased telecommuting.
Discussion
DISCUSSION
This quarterly report is intended to track progress towards the ridership growth expected from the NextGen Bus Plan, including growth to be supported by implementing the remaining Transit First bus speed and reliability improvements.
Most notable in this particular quarter is the impact of immigration enforcement activities, which resulted in reduced ridership for weekday, Saturday, and Sunday compared to the same quarter in 2024. Similar declines were first seen in June in Q2 CY2025 after over 2.5 years of continuous year-over-year ridership increases.
The ridership recovery rates of Q3 CY2025 as a percentage of Q3 CY2019 are as follows, and compared to the recovery rates for Q3 CY2024:
• Weekday was 77.6% (down from 82.9% in Q3 CY2024)
• Saturday was 85.4% (down from 91.6% in Q3 CY2024)
• Sunday was 92.8% (down from 97.1% in Q3 CY2024).
Ridership Trends from 2019 to 2024
Complete restoration of bus service by December 2022, combined with more reliable service delivery and the introduction of new fare programs (e.g., GoPass for students and LIFE Program for low-income riders), has contributed to much stronger ridership recovery in 2023, 2024, and continuing in 2025. This reinforces the importance of frequent and reliable service delivery in attracting and retaining ridership.
Table 2: Comparison of Average Daily GoPass Boardings by Day Type and Year
Table 3: Comparison of Average Daily LIFE Boardings by Day Type and Year
The overall growth in the LIFE Program and GoPass boardings exceeds the overall increase in ridership. However, while some of the growth of these programs is due to new rider participation, much of this growth is from existing riders enrolling in these programs.
The highest monthly averages for post-pandemic weekday ridership in 2024 were in September (804,279) and October (804,963). In 2025, the highest month was May 2025 (791,214). However, average weekday ridership declined year over year in June (686,215, down 6.6%), July (647,000, down 7.9%), August (706,093, down 6.8%), September (764,647, down 4.9%) and October 2025 (760,709, down 5.5%) returning to CY2023 levels, with a Q3 CY2025 average weekday ridership decline of 6.4%. The most impacted months were June through August, with lesser declines in September and October. (Attachment A Chart 6 - Average Weekday Ridership 2019 - 2025.
Chart 1: Average Weekday Ridership by Month
Average Saturday bus ridership also showed year-over-year declines in June (10.2%), July (9.7%), August (6.8%), September (3.8%), and October 2025 (3.5%) after increases in April and May. Average Q3 Saturday bus ridership showed a 6.8% decline over the same quarter in 2024. The declines were less in the most recent months of September and October. Sunday also showed declines, though smaller than weekday and Saturday, in June (2.9%), July (6.3%), August (4.5%), September (2.4%), and October (1.9%), so the most recent two months showed less impact. The Q3 CY2025 average Sunday ridership showed a 4.4% decline over the same quarter in 2024, again showing less impact than weekday and Saturday in Q3 CY2025.
Ridership by Service Area
On average, the Metro bus system's weekday ridership recovery rate was 77.6% in Q3 FY2025. The ridership recovery rate was examined for each of the five Metro Service Council areas. The San Fernando Valley showed the highest rate of weekday ridership recovery at 88.9% in Q3 CY2025 (down from 89.6% in Q3 CY2024). This recovery rate, in part, shows the strong response to NextGen Bus Plan improvements that created a network of 10 local lines and the Metro G Line BRT with 10-15 minute frequencies all day on weekdays across the San Fernando Valley, in place of 20-30 minute frequencies. Several lines in the East Valley were also restructured to match regional travel patterns that were more focused on North Hollywood. These changes resulted in a 3% gain in RSHs, with no other service area having such gains in service hours. This is a likely primary reason for the ridership gains in the San Fernando Valley and the more limited growth and recovery in other areas.
The average Q3 CY2025 weekday ridership of the San Fernando Valley area compared to Q3 CY2024 decreased slightly by 0.8%, indicating that ridership growth has impacted even this service area in Q3, noting that in Q2 CY2025, it had still shown a year-over-year increase (and was the only service area that showed growth in Q2 CY2025). The impacts from immigration enforcement activities appear to have impacted the most in Q3, though it still had the smallest decline of all five service areas, by far. The other four service areas all declined between 4.7%-9.1% over the same quarter of 2024, with the Gateway Cities service area again showing the largest decline as in Q2 CY2025.
The weekday ridership recovery rates of the other four Service Council areas in Q3 CY2025 all declined compared to the same quarter in CY2024:
• San Gabriel Valley: 73.8% (down 3.6% from 77.4%)
• Gateway Cities: 72.3% (down 7.3% from 79.6% in Q3 CY2024)
• Westside Central: 88.4% (down 4.1% from 92.5% in Q3 CY2024)
• South Bay Cities: 91.9% (down 7.2% from 99.1% in Q3 CY2024)
The average Q3 CY2025 Saturday recovery rate was 85.4% overall, a 7.2% decrease from 91.6% for the same quarter of 2024. San Fernando Valley again showed the highest recovery at 100.0% (down slightly from 100.8%), while other areas were 73.4% to 84.1% (down from 81.8% to 91.3%). Saturday ridership decreased 0.6% for the San Fernando Valley over the same quarter in CY2024. The other four service areas decreased by between 5.0%-10.3%, with the largest decline in the Gateway Cities area.
The average Sunday ridership recovery rate was 92.8% overall, down from 97.1% in the same quarter of 2024. San Fernando Valley's recovery rate was the highest at 111.2% (up 0.6% from 110.6% in Q3 CY2024, the only area to show an increase), and the four other service areas varied in recovery rate from 72.3% to 91.9% (down from 77.4% to 99.1%, a decrease of between 3.6%-7.3% from Q3 CY2024). Again, the Gateway Cities service area saw the largest decline. This was consistent for all day types; it appears this service area reacted most significantly to the immigration enforcement actions, which in all areas are negating in part of the potential of the NextGen improvements.
Table 4: Percentage Change in Average Daily Q3 CY2025 Ridership by Service Area and Day Type compared to Q3 CY2024
Table 4 above shows full details of the percentage change in average daily ridership by service area between Q3 CY2025 and Q3 CY2024. See Attachment A, Charts 10-12,
Average Weekday, Saturday, and Sunday Ridership Recovery by Service Area Q3 CY2019 - Q3 CY2025.
Map 1 shows a comparison of average weekday ridership for June 2025 as a percentage of June 2024 ridership, illustrating by LA City neighborhood and other LA County cities the level of ridership decline. Noticeably, larger declines are seen in the areas impacted by the January 2025 fires, and in parts of the southeast LA region where immigration raids were most common.
Map 1: Q3 2025 Average Weekday Ridership as a Percentage of Q3 2024 Average Weekday Ridership
Ridership in EFCs
Average daily boardings in EFCs increased by 2.0% on weekdays, 1.6% on Saturdays, and 1.3% on Sundays during Q4 CY2020. This was during the most impactful time of COVID cases, when much of the transit ridership was in EFCs, and people still needed to travel to access jobs and services. Trips during the early part of COVID were likely made by people who relied on transit to access essential jobs/services and mainly reside in EFCs. The NextGen Bus Plan prioritized investing in frequency improvements for key lines serving EFCs
By Q3 CY2025, EFC boardings as a proportion of total boardings were just 0.1% higher for weekdays, down 0.9% for Saturday, and down 1.0% for Sunday compared to pre-COVID levels. The declines in the proportion of EFC boardings may be attributable to the immigration enforcement being most concentrated in EFCs, meaning many who normally rely upon transit sought alternative transportation or forewent travel altogether.
See Attachment A, page 16, for further discussion of bus system ridership in EFCs.
Chart 2: EFC Ridership as a Percentage of Total Ridership By Day Type
Lines serving EFCs with the strongest ridership recovery (over 100% recovered weekdays and weekends) include:
• Line 204: Vermont Av Local
• Line 605: Boyle Heights Shuttle
• Line 665: City Terrace Indiana St
Two of these lines operate 15-minute or better service all day on weekdays as a result of the NextGen Bus Plan implementation.
Ridership by Time Period
As of Q3 CY2025, weekday early AM and AM peak period ridership remains the least recovered at 70% and 67% of 2019 levels, respectively; these are also lower than in the same quarter of CY2024 (78% and 74% respectively) likely due to the ridership drop in Q3 FY2025 resulting from immigration enforcement actions. The PM peak and evening recovery rates were 75% and 78%, respectively, again reflecting declines, most significantly in the PM peak, over the same quarter of CY2024 (81% for both). The midday period also saw a reduction in recovery rate, from 85% in Q3 CY2024 to 82% in Q3 CY2025, smaller than that seen in the peak periods.
In contrast, late evening and Owl periods' share of weekday ridership continued to have the highest recovery rates compared to their 2019 (pre-pandemic) levels at 92%, and 96%, respectively, with improvements over the same quarter of CY2024 (90% and 95% respectively). These were the only time periods to show ridership growth in this quarter.
The better midday recovery rate for weekday ridership is consistent with the intent of the NextGen Bus Plan to grow ridership during off-peak weekdays. However, in Q3, all time periods except late evening and Owl showed declines in recovery rates of between 3%-8% over the same quarter in CY2024, though the recovery rate declines are most significant in the early AM, AM, and PM peak periods, with smaller declines in the midday and early evening periods.
Saturday early AM, AM peak, midday, PM peak, and evening ridership had the lowest recovery rates at 84%, 75%, 82%, 83%, and 87% respectively, each declining from Q3 CY2024 (92%, 84%, 87%, 88%, and 90% respectively), with the declines in early AM and AM peak highest at 8% and 9% respectively (others were 5% or less). In contrast, Saturday late evening and Owl showed higher recovery rates at 99% and 101% (up from 96% and 99% respectively). As with weekdays, the late evening and Owl periods showed the most resilience and were the only Saturday time periods with increased ridership recovery.
Sunday recovery rates by time period for Q3 CY2025 were topped by early AM, which was 110%, down from 115% in Q3 CY2024. The AM peak, midday, and PM peak, and evening each showed a decline in recovery rates at 89%, 88%, 88%, and 91% respectively (down from 98%, 95%, 95%, and 94% respectively), with the AM peak showing the largest decline in recovery rate at 9%, but midday and PM peak were also down 7%. In contrast, the late evening and Owl periods showed increases in recovery rate at 97% and 103%, up from 95% and 102% respectively, compared to Q3 CY2024, so all three day types showed growth in these time periods.
See also Attachment A, Charts 14-16: Weekday, Saturday, and Sunday Ridership by Time Period Q1 CY2019-Q3 CY2025.
Average Trip Length
The Metro bus system's average (unlinked) passenger trip length dropped from 4.2-4.3 miles to just below 3.0 miles in the pandemic year 2021. This trend was likely due to a significant reduction in long-distance commuter trips. As ridership recovered in 2022 through 2024, average passenger trip lengths increased and were at 3.4 miles for each day type in the most recent data, well below pre-COVID lengths. COVID has transitioned trip-making to shorter trips to address a market for short trips already identified as a significant opportunity to grow ridership in the NextGen Bus study. This change in average passenger trip length is seen for weekdays and weekends, with weekday and Saturday at 3.3 miles and Sunday at 3.4 miles average passenger trip lengths when most recently measured. Even with the recent declines in ridership, average trip length was relatively stable, with just a very slight decline in average passenger trip length for weekday and Saturday. (Attachment A, Chart 17 Average Passenger Trip Length)
Ridership Recovery by Service Tiers and Lines
This section compares average daily line ridership for Q3 CY2025 versus Q3 CY2019 for each day type (weekday, Saturday, Sunday) and provides an overview of lines showing above and below system average ridership recovery. The review also examined lines/line groups for the four NextGen Bus Plan Tiers. Due to the NextGen Bus Plan change involving the restructure of bus lines and line groups, this analysis must, in many cases, be based on comparing ridership for groups of lines to provide a fair comparison of the changes in ridership at the line level. In Q3 CY2025, 117 individual Metro bus lines were operating. However, the ridership recovery rate analysis for this quarter is based on 81 weekday, 75 Saturday, and 74 Sunday lines/line groups. . Detailed data is included in Attachments B, C, and D, respectively.
Using Q3 CY2019 as a pre-COVID baseline and in comparison to Q3 CY2024, the overall Q3 CY2025 bus system ridership recovery rate was 77.6% for weekday (down from 82.9%), 85.4% for Saturday (down from 91.6%), and 92.8% for Sunday (down from 97.1%). No day type had an improved ridership recovery rate.
Table 5: Q3 CY2025 Number of Fully Recovered Lines Versus CY2019 Ridership
In Q3 CY2025, there were 14 weekday recovered lines/line groups, 15 Saturday lines/line groups, and 30 Sunday lines/line groups; for all types, recovery was down from Q2 CY2025 and Q3 2024. The strongest recoveries continue to be those lines/line groups with significant NextGen improvements.
The higher number of Tier 1 (10-minute or better weekday service) and Tier 2 (15-minute or better weekday service) lines/line groups (which make up almost half of all bus lines) with above-average recovery suggests that the improved frequencies implemented through the NextGen Bus Plan are a vital component of more robust ridership recovery, even with declines in weekday and Saturday recovery in Q3 CY2025 versus Q3 CY2024:
Table 6: Line Recovery by Tier and Day Type
Tier 1 and Tier 2 higher frequencies continue to show stronger recovery; some of these lines also include route changes to better connect riders to key destinations.
A common denominator of lower ridership recovery along some Tier 1 and Tier 2 lines is that they serve Downtown LA. In addition to reduced daily work-related trips due to increased telecommuting and the negative impacts on many downtown service industry businesses, some of these lines were also restructured to move riders to other bus lines or, in some cases, rail lines. An opportunity exists to promote downtown LA travel on the Metro Regional Connector and Metro bus network for those returning to office work there, as well as the many cultural attractions and entertainment events based there.
This same pattern was noted for the G Line BRT service between North Hollywood, Canoga Park, and Chatsworth, with notably lower ridership recovery, especially on weekdays (55.6%) but also on weekends (Saturday 65.1%, and Sunday 67.6%). By comparison, the J Line BRT between El Monte, downtown LA, and Harbor Gateway/San Pedro had both a 79.4% weekday recovery rate and much higher weekends (99.0% Saturday; 102.2% Sunday), perhaps from a mix of work and leisure travel. Before COVID, these lines had higher usage by discretionary riders. These riders do not appear to be traveling post-COVID as much for work in downtown LA (the G Line feeds the B Line rail to downtown LA) or other employment centers located in the San Fernando Valley, such as Van Nuys or Warner Center. Warner Center has also seen the closure of a mall. The G Line is also now being impacted by long-term detours for the Van Nuys grade separation project, which may divert more riders away from this service in Q3 CY2025.
Notable ridership changes also occurred on the Vermont corridor, a very high EFC corridor where frequent Local and Rapid bus service continues to operate. The corridor’s overall ridership recovery rate was 81.0% on weekdays, with the Local Line 204 having a recovery rate of 102.2% in Q3 CY2025. By comparison, Vermont Rapid Line 754, which operates with the same frequency as the local line but on a limited stop format, had a ridership recovery rate of 59.6% in Q3 CY2025. Line 754 saw notably high cancellation rates in 2022 and to some extent in 2023 and 2024, which may have diverted riders to use the Local bus. The same patterns were seen for Saturday (Local 110.0%; Rapid 57.2%) and Sunday (Local 99.6%; Rapid 69.7%).
As mentioned, the performance of the largely Tier 2 network of lines in the San Fernando Valley is notable for its strong ridership recovery as a group. Other Tier 2 lines across Metro’s service area had similarly high ridership recovery rates above 100%. Another example is Line 605, which serves Boyle Heights.
Several Tier 3 lines had frequency improvements that generated high ridership recovery. By comparison, many Tier 4 lines (40-60 minute frequency) had low ridership recovery, with no NextGen route or frequency changes in most cases, and a lower percentage of route miles serving EFCs. It will be essential to test the best performers among these lines by upgrading to a 30-minute service to see what ridership growth potential some of these lines may have.
The devastating Palisades and Eaton Canyon fires that occurred in early January 2025 (Q1) also had a continued impact through Q3 CY2025. The Palisades fire primarily impacted two bus lines: Line 134 (Santa Monica - Malibu) and Line 602 (Westwood - Pacific Palisades). These lines were suspended for up to seven weeks. Line 134 is now operating, but with a 5-mile zone with limited bus stops on Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) due to fire recovery activity. Line 602 western half from Bundy to PCH, remains out of operation due to fire recovery efforts. The no-stop zone on Line 134 has since been reduced from 10 miles to around 5 miles, but impacts are expected to continue through at least the remainder of 2025 into Q1 CY2026. Ridership impacts have been lower on Line 134 in Q3, thanks to the service being restored and the no-stop zone being reduced. Q3 CY2025 Line 134 weekday ridership recovery was 47.6%, Saturday 57.7%, Sunday 77.7% while Line 602 weekday was 29.4%, Saturday 37.0%, and Sunday 45.9%.
The Eaton fire in Altadena impacted Lines 660 and 662, which link Altadena and Pasadena. Operation of these lines was shortened approximately half a mile to Woodbury Rd (originally further south at Washington Bl). The full Line 602, 660, and 662 routes were restored with the December 14, 2025 service change.
Bus Line Productivity
Data also consistently shows that increased RSHs implemented through the NextGen Bus Plan for many lines or line groups generated higher ridership recovery compared to lines that saw stable or fewer service hours compared to pre-NextGen. However, a separate analysis is required for the productivity (passenger boardings/RSHs) of lines resulting from the NextGen Bus Plan changes.
While ridership recovery is important, it is also important to determine if the scheduled service hours are being productively utilized. The measure of passenger boardings per revenue service hour is an industry standard measure of productivity. The NextGen Bus Plan held annual bus service hours at a constant 7 million, and that remains the same in CY2025. However, the distribution of service hours was changed between both lines and day types. The following is a comparison of bus system productivity (passenger boardings per revenue service hour) Q3 CY2025 and pre-NextGen Q3 CY2019:
• Weekday: 33.1 passenger boardings per revenue service hour (2025) versus 40.5 (2019)
• Saturday: 32.1 passenger boardings per revenue service hour (2025) versus 38.6 (2019)
• Sunday: 28.2 passenger boardings per revenue service hour (2025) versus 37.2 (2019)
The weekday change in productivity is explained by a 1.8% decline in RSHs versus a 19.9% decline in ridership between 2019 and 2025. This simply means ridership has not recovered sufficiently yet to equal or exceed the former productivity level, even with a slight reduction in weekday service hours, especially with the recent decline in ridership due to immigration enforcement.
On weekdays, only 3 of the 81 lines/line groups managed to exceed their former productivity level, while another 48 lines/line groups exceeded 80.0% of their former productivity (pre-NextGen). These were a mix of all frequency tiers, as well as some lines that had major changes, as well as in many cases, minimal changes. The lowest level was 53.3% of former productivity, on a line impacted by the January wildfires.
There were 11 weekday lines with productivity under 20 boardings per revenue service hour, and 2 additional lines with under 10 boardings per revenue service hour. Two of these 13 weekday lines with the lower productivity were wildfire-impacted lines (Lines 134, 602), and the lowest were the Willowbrook - Del Amo Line 202 and Warner Center Shuttle Line 601. Staff will continue to explore opportunities to better align service and ridership levels to increase productivity.
With the recent decline in ridership, the Saturday productivity change is no longer slightly positive, nor does it exceed the former productivity level seen in Q1 CY2025, with a 14.4% decrease in ridership but a 3.1% increase in service hours.
On Saturday, 7 of the 75 lines/line groups managed to exceed their former productivity level, while another 43 lines/line groups exceeded 80.0%. These were a mix of all frequency tiers, as well as lines that had minimal to major changes. The lowest level seen on a line was 55% of former productivity, though this line was impacted by the January wildfires. There were 18 Saturday lines with productivity under 20 passengers per revenue service hour and an additional two under 10.0%.
While the Sunday ridership was down 6.7% overall, the service hours were up 23.0% with the alignment of Sunday schedules with those of Saturday, resulting in a productivity change that is negative, i.e., well below the former productivity level. This may suggest NextGen overinvested in Sunday service, though Sunday ridership recovery has been strong, though still impacted by the recent immigration enforcement.
The 74 Sunday lines/line groups are a mix of frequency tiers as well as lines that had, in many cases, minimal changes. Of those 74, only 1 managed to exceed its former productivity level. The lowest level was 34% of former productivity, though this was again, on a line impacted by the January wildfires. Many other Sunday underperformers relate to low ridership recovery. Most lines were between 80.0-99.9% of former productivity. This represents an important opportunity to reassess Sunday service levels to align them with ridership levels. There were 22 Sunday lines with productivity under 20 passengers per revenue service hour, and another 2 lines that were under 10.
In contrast, the highest productivity lines for all three day types were Vermont Av Local 204, Vermont Av Rapid 754, and Western Av Local 207, which operate in the Hollywood - South LA area.
Table 7: Top Three Metro Bus Lines Productivity
A more detailed analysis is provided in Attachment A, which this report summarizes. Attachments B, C, and D to this report provide detailed data on systemwide line/line groups for average weekday, Saturday, and Sunday bus ridership observed between Q1 CY2019 (pre-pandemic and pre-NextGen) and the same period Q3 CY2025.
These ridership recovery and productivity results will continue to be tracked and reported as further investments in NextGen bus speed and reliability improvements occur, including new bus lanes, expanded transit signal priority, and all-door boarding; more details on these initiatives are in the next section.
Speed and Reliability
Beyond the initial Reconnect phase of the NextGen Bus Plan with route restructuring and establishment of frequency tiers, the NextGen Transit First scenario is designed to increase ridership based on the increased speed of service/reduced travel times by implementing items from the speed and reliability toolkit. These items include new bus lanes, expanded transit signal priority, stop optimization, and reinvestment of time savings to increase service frequencies.
Progress on such speed and reliability implementations includes 70.7 lane-miles of new bus priority lanes implemented at the end of CY2024 across Metro’s service area, with the Roscoe Bl bus priority lanes in the San Fernando Valley being the latest to be implemented and completed at the end of October 2024. Updates on upcoming and recent projects are listed below:
• Sunset Bl Bus Priority Lanes (Metro Line 2): Metro began outreach on the Sunset Bl Bus Priority Lane project in Summer 2025. This 8.4 lane-mile project on Sunset Bl between Vermont Av and Hayvenhurst Dr will improve bus speed and reliability for the over 19,000 daily weekday riders on Metro Line 2. The project proposes to convert existing peak-hour parking lanes on Sunset Bl to peak-hour bus priority lanes. This project will complement the Alvarado St bus priority lanes that were installed in 2021 and 2023, which also serve Metro Line 2.
• Florence Av Bus Priority Lanes (Metro Line 111): In Summer 2025, construction of this peak-hour bus lane project in the City of LA and Unincorporated LA County began. This project will provide 10.2 lane-miles of peak-period bus priority lanes in both directions on Florence Av between West Bl and the Florence A Line Station. This project is expected to be completed in Winter 2026 and will bring improved speed and reliability to riders of Metro Line 111.
Vermont Av Bus Priority Lanes (Metro Lines 204 & 754): Metro is working on plans to deliver quick-build bus priority lanes to key corridor segments ahead of the larger BRT project as part of the Vermont Transit Corridor project. This will improve the speed and reliability improvements for over 36,000 daily weekday riders ahead of the larger project.
Bus Lane Enforcement (BLE)
Metro continues partnering with LADOT to have dedicated parking enforcement details patrol and enforce bus lanes in the City of LA. Enforcing the no-parking regulations in the bus lanes helps riders arrive at their destinations faster and more reliably.
Metro completed the required 60-day education and outreach effort on the affected BLE lines, and the initial phase of the BLE program began operations as of May 12, 2025. There are now 100 Metro buses equipped with photo/video capabilities that are capturing vehicles stopped or parked on bus lanes during posted operating hours, as well as at bus stops along the affected routes. A bus lane enforcement expansion program is in early development, while bus lane performance is being reviewed and will be reported on in the next quarterly report.
Metro also collaborated with the City of West Hollywood to extend the BLE violation and citation process on the existing BLE routes within its city limits at the City’s request. Outreach began on July 1, 2025, and enforcement began on September 2, 2025.
Equity_Platform
EQUITY PLATFORM
The NextGen Bus Plan was developed with an equity methodology, placing more service in Equity Focus Communities, which have historically been more transit dependent. A central goal of the NextGen Bus Plan is to provide improved transit service frequencies, travel times, and reliability improvements for Metro system riders. Eight in 10 Metro riders are Black, Indigenous, and/or other People of Color (BIPOC); nearly 9 in 10 live in households with total annual earnings below $50,000, and almost 6 in 10 are below the poverty line.
Improvements such as greater off-peak frequencies have helped essential workers and other riders make essential trips, with an increased share of off-peak ridership noted during the height of the pandemic.
This analysis shows that a subsequently greater proportion of increased ridership has occurred among EFC residents since the NextGen changes were implemented, with increased frequency of service and speed and reliability enhancements that continue to be implemented, though as of 2025, this is only true for weekdays. By providing a fast, frequent, reliable network designed through the NextGen process, there is a significant focus on serving EFCs to provide these communities with reduced wait times, shorter travel times, and improved access to key destinations. However, the impact of immigration enforcement in keeping people away from the Metro bus system is negating the potential of the NextGen Bus Plan for increasing ridership. These impacts will be monitored closely.
Staff will also continue to gather rider feedback through the various sources used to gather public input regarding bus services and related adjustments, such as comments received via Metro’s social media channels, Customer Care, and Service Council meetings. These channels provide valuable insight into riders' key customer experience concerns. Examples that influenced the December 2025 service change included requests from various customers to restore service in the fire recovery areas in both Pacific Palisades and Altadena, as well as comments regarding lines for improving service reliability and capacity (to avoid overcrowding).
Vehicle_Miles_Traveled _Outcome
VEHICLE MILES TRAVELED OUTCOME
VMT and VMT per capita in Los Angeles County are lower than national averages, the lowest in the SCAG region, and on the lower end of VMT per capita statewide, with these declining VMT trends due in part to Metro’s significant investment in rail and bus transit.* Metro’s Board-adopted VMT reduction targets align with California’s statewide climate goals, including achieving carbon neutrality by 2045. To ensure continued progress, all Board items are assessed for their potential impact on VMT to ensure continued progress.
This item supports Metro’s systemwide strategy to reduce VMT through planning and operational activities that will improve and further encourage transit ridership, ridesharing, and active transportation. Metro’s Board-adopted VMT reduction targets were designed to build on the success of existing investments, and this item aligns with those objectives.
While this item does not directly encourage taking transit, sharing a ride, or using active transportation, it is a vital part of Metro operations, as it assesses Metro bus ridership trends. Because the Metro Board has adopted an agency-wide VMT Reduction Target, and this item supports the overall function of the agency, this item is consistent with the goals of reducing VMT.
*Based on population estimates from the United States Census and VMT estimates from Caltrans’ Highway Performance Monitoring System (HPMS) data between 2001-2019.
Implementation_of_Strategic_Plan_Goals
IMPLEMENTATION OF STRATEGIC PLAN GOALS
The recommendation supports strategic plan goals:
Goal #1: Provide high-quality mobility options that enable people to spend less time traveling. Improving the speed and reliability of the bus network will reduce transit travel times and improve competitiveness with other transportation options.
Goal #2: Deliver outstanding trip experiences for all transportation system users. These initiatives help to move more people within the same street capacity, where currently transit users suffer service delays and reliability issues because of single-occupant drivers.
Goal #3: Enhance communities and lives through mobility and access to opportunity. With faster transit service and improved reliability, residents have increased access to education and employment, with greater confidence that they will reach their destination on time.
Next_Steps
NEXT STEPS
The NextGen Bus Plan network ridership will continue to be monitored through 2025 as Metro continues to deliver full service based on the NextGen Bus Plan. The agency will continue to hire new bus operators to remain fully staffed and to reliably deliver full service daily. Metro will also continue implementing bus speed and reliability improvements, such as new bus lanes. Meanwhile, it is important to see an end to immigration enforcement to allow many riders the confidence to ride the Metro system. Another update is planned for the Board in March 2026; staff will track and detail ridership for Q4 CY2025 (October through December 2025) as the basis for the next ridership report.
Attachments
ATTACHMENTS
Attachment A - NextGen Ridership Analysis Q3 CY2025
Attachment B - Weekday Ridership Recovery Comparison by Line and Line Group
Attachment C - Saturday Ridership Recovery Comparison by Line and Line Group
Attachment D - Sunday Ridership Recovery Comparison by Line and Line Group
Attachment E - NextGen Service Tier Changes
Prepared_by
Prepared by: Joe Forgiarini, Senior Executive Officer, Service Development, (213) 418-3400
Reviewed_By
Reviewed by: Conan Cheung, Chief Operations Officer, (213) 418-3034
