LOS ANGELES, Calif.–The county’s transportation authority today suspended changes to a handful of Metro bus lines that were scheduled to go into effect on Sunday.
The agency made the unusual last minute decision because it needed more time to analyze the affects the changes would have on riders in light of recent changes to federal and state regulations, a Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority spokesman said.
Metro was scheduled to enact a mix of cuts, additions and new stops along 20 bus lines beginning Sunday. The changes were first approved in March.
“We have to do some additional analysis on four lines,” spokesman Marc Littman said. “Logistically it was just easier to suspend the whole package of changes.”
Littman said the changes would have equated to a small net increase in bus service.
A number of the changes were intended to enhance riders’ ability to connect to the Exposition Light Rail line, which is on track to open in the spring, though no date has been set, according to Littman.
Four metro rapid bus lines–705, 710, 740 and 757–would have new stops along or near the Expo Line.
Littman said he expected the changes to go into effect around the opening of the Expo Line.
