Metro - File #: 2025-0825

• File #: 2025-0825
• Type: Oral Report / Presentation
• Status: Filed
• File created: 9/16/2025
• In control: Operations, Safety, and Customer Experience Committee
• On agenda: 10/16/2025
• Final action: 10/16/2025
• Title: RECEIVE AND FILE status update on NextGen Bus Ridership.
• Sponsors: Operations, Safety, and Customer Experience Commit
• Indexes: 7th Street/Metro Center Station, Access Services Inc., Alignment, Alignment 1104, Alignment 1124, Alignment 1126, Alignment 1128, Alignment 1134, All Door Boarding, Altadena, Arcadia, Arroyo Verdugo subregion, Artesia, Artesia Station, Avalon, B Line (Red) Segment 3, Beverly Hills, Blue Line Initial Segment, Boyle Heights, Burbank, Bus rapid transit, Bus Speed Improvements, Canoga Park, Central Los Angeles subregion, Chatsworth, City of Los Angeles, Commerce, Compton, Construction, Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), Disneyland Resort, Eagle Rock, East Hollywood, El Monte, Equity Focus Communities, Expo Park/USC Station, Fare Zone, Florence, Gateway Cities (Southeast LA County) Service Sector, Gateway Cities subregion, Glendale, GoPass, Harbor Transitway, Hawthorne, Highland Park, Hollywood, Hollywood/Highland Station, Hollywood/Vine Station, Hourly, Huntington Park, I-105 ExpressLanes Project, I-110, Inglewood, Las Virgenes/Malibu subregion, Laurel Canyon, Light rail transit, Lincoln/Cypress Station, Link Union Station, Little Tokyo/Arts District Station, Location 0075, Long Beach, Los Angeles City Council District 02, Los Angeles City Council District 04, Los Angeles City Council District 13, Los Angeles City Council District 14, Los Angeles International Airport, Los Angeles Union Station, Low-Income Fare is Easy (LIFE), Macarthur Park, Malibu, Manhattan Beach, Maps, Metro Busway G Line, Metro Busway J Line, Metro Rail A Line, Metro Rail B Line, Metro Rail C Line, Metro Rail D Line, Metro Rail E Line, Metro Rail K Line, Metrolink Antelope Valley Line, Metrolink Orange County Line, Metrolink Riverside Line, Metrolink Ventura County Line, Montebello, Monterey Park, NextGen Bus Study, North Hollywood, North Hollywood Station, Norwalk, Norwalk El Segundo Transit Project, Norwalk Station, Off peak periods, Olympic games, Oral Report / Presentation, Outreach, Pacific Palisades, Paramount, Pasadena, Peak periods, Plan, Rancho Palos Verdes, Red Line MOS-2 North, Regional Connector Transit Corridor Project, Reseda, Ridership, Rose Hills, Rosemead, Safety, San Fernando, San Fernando Valley Service Sector, San Fernando Valley subregion, San Gabriel, San Pedro, Santa Monica, Sierra Madre, Silver Lake, South Bay Cities subregion, South Bay Service Sector, South Gate, South Pasadena Station, SR-1, State government, Station 1125, Strategic planning, Students, Studio City, Surveys, Sylmar, Telecommuting, Temple City, Terminal 19, Terminal 27, Terminal 54, Topanga, Transfer on 2nd Boarding, Transfers, Transit buses, Transit centers, Travel patterns, Travel time, Trip length, Van Nuys, Vans, Vehicle fires, Venice, Vernon, Volume, Warner Center, Westlake/Macarthur Park Station, Westside Cities subregion, Westside/Central Service Sector, Westwood, Westwood/UCLA Station, Willowbrook, Willowbrook/Rosa Parks Station, Wilmington, Winnetka

Date	Action By	Action	Result
10/16/2025	Operations, Safety, and Customer Experience Committee

Meeting_Body
OPERATIONS, SAFETY, AND CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE COMMITTEE
OCTOBER 16, 2025

Subject
SUBJECT: NEXTGEN RIDERSHIP UPDATE - Q2 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 second quarter of calendar year 2025 (Q2 CY2025), consisting of April, May, and June 2025, compared to the pre-pandemic and start of 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 was to be rolled out in two phases.
* "Reconnect" was the initial phase to restructure the existing network. It 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 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 reduce service by 10% in February 2022 to stabilize service reliability, with full restoration by December 2022 with more operators hired.
* 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, with a 1-2% shortage experienced by end of 2023, but higher recruitments led to full staffing again being achieved in January 2025, with very low cancellation rates.

The NextGe...