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Metro Proposes More Bus Service Cuts. Are You On Board?

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Photo by Fred Camino via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr

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Metro has put forth a set of bus service changes and cuts that would affect passengers and drivers on 23 lines currently in operation. Before the service reductions would go into place, on June 26, 2011, the nine route cancellations and alterations to service on numerous other lines, Metro will hold a series of public hearings to discuss the changes.

Streetsblog LA has been eying the potential service cuts, and reached out to transit advocates for their reaction to the proposed changes, as well as offered criticism of Metro for how they are handling the situation, by not focusing on the positive aspects of their service, or the high level of usage their bus lines enjoy. "None of this is to say that cuts aren’t needed or can’t be useful, just that Metro’s bus service is often maligned in the press or public opinion," writes Streetsblog LA's Damien Newton. "Even when cuts are needed, it would be nice for Metro to try to remind people of this."

Read what The Southern California Transit Advocates and StreetsblogLA's Dana Gabbard, The Transit Coalition's Faramarz Nabavi and San Fernando Valley Service Council Member Kymberleigh Richards each said in response to the cuts. One of the more vocal transit advocacy groups, the Bus Riders Union, did not provide a detailed reply, but told Newton "they’re still working on analyzing the cuts, but that they found the proposal shocking."

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