BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 726 Page 1 Date of Hearing: April 22, 2015 ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT Brian Maienschein, Chair AB 726 (Nazarian) - As Amended March 26, 2015 SUBJECT: Vehicles: Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority. SUMMARY: Authorizes the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) to operate articulated buses that do not exceed 82 feet on the Orange Line in Los Angeles County. Specifically, this bill: 1)Provides an exemption to the vehicle length limit in existing law to allow MTA to operate articulated buses that do not exceed 82 feet on the route designated as the Orange Line in Los Angeles County. 2)Finds and declares that a special law is necessary because of the unique circumstances of a large number of riders using buses operated by MTA on the Orange Line and the need to reduce overcrowding on those buses. EXISTING LAW: 1)Establishes MTA as the successor agency to the Southern AB 726 Page 2 California Rapid Transit District and the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission and prescribes its membership and duties. 2)Prohibits a vehicle from exceeding a length of 40 feet and creates a number of exemptions to that limit. 3)Prohibits an articulated bus from exceeding a length of 60 feet. FISCAL EFFECT: None COMMENTS: 1)Bill Summary. This bill provides an exemption to the maximum articulated bus length limit in current law and authorizes MTA to use articulated buses up to 82 feet on the Orange Line route in Los Angeles County. This bill is sponsored by MTA. 2)MTA and the Orange Line. MTA was created pursuant to AB 152 (Katz), Chapter 60, Statutes of 1992, through the consolidation of the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission and the Southern California Rapid Transit District. MTA is now the third-largest public transportation system in the United States by ridership, serving a 1,433 square mile area. After purchasing and converting an abandoned railroad line parallel to the Ventura Freeway (U.S. 101), MTA opened the Orange Line in the San Fernando Valley in October of 2005. The Orange Line opened as a 14-mile route consisting of two-lane dedicated busways for 60 foot articulated buses. The Orange Line crosses 34 streets and five midblock pedestrian crosswalks, and at signalized AB 726 Page 3 intersections, loop detectors give Orange Line buses traffic signal priority. Adjacent to the dedicated busways there are eight miles of bicycle and pedestrian paths, with designated on-street bike lanes for the remaining six miles. In 2012 MTA did a four-mile northern extension of the Orange Line, connecting four new stations. The use of longer articulated buses on the Orange Line was identified as one of the suggestions to expand Orange Line capacity and improve travel time in the Orange Line bus Rapid Transit Sustainable Corridor Implementation Plan (Orange Line CRT Sustainable CIP), developed by MTA in partnership with the City of Los Angeles in 2011. In addition to examining improvements to the existing bus rapid transit system, MTA also analyzed the possible conversion of the Orange Line to a rail service. As of November 1, 2009, MTA had 391 articulated buses in its fleet, and contains a plan to assume 500 articulated buses in the near term and another 100 beyond fiscal year 2020. 3)Author's Statement. According to the author, "This is a district bill that will give MTA the flexibility needed to address the growing demands of public transportation in the Greater San Fernando Valley. "In 1991, MTA purchased the Southern Pacific Burbank Branch. After 15 years of examining potential transportation alternatives, MTA constructed Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) along the entire Southern Pacific Burbank Branch route, which is currently known as the LA Metro Orange Line. Today, much like light rail, the 18 mile Orange Line runs on dedicated bus lanes and uses a dedicated right-of-way with stations approximately at one mile intervals. AB 726 Page 4 "The San Fernando Valley has since outgrown the BRT system. When BRT was determined to be the preferred alternative, MTA estimated that Orange Line ridership would average 16,000 riders on weekdays. However as of September 2012, average ridership was 31,787 -almost double the initial estimate. Ridership on the Orange Line continues to grow rapidly each year. To add, current Metro Orange Line operation has headway restrictions that limit how many standard articulated buses can operate there. "Consequently, bi-articulated buses would allow for expansion of capacity on this line. Bi-articulated buses can have up to 80 passenger seats, which would translate into an operating capacity of 112 passengers. Bi-articulated buses currently operate in South America (primarily Brazil) and in Europe (Germany, Holland, Switzerland). The most common bi-articulated bus designs are about 82 feet in length. "In order to effectively address the growing public transportation needs of the San Fernando Valley, alleviate congestion and take advantage of available transportation resources, this bill will offer MTA the flexibility they need to operate buses up to 82 feet in length along the Orange Line. This bill does not impose a mandate, but rather unties the hands of MTA to build appropriate alternative means of transportation to properly serve its customers." 4)Prior Legislation. There is extensive legislative history surrounding the discussion of bus length limits. This bill is not MTA's first attempt to gain the authority to use larger articulated buses on the Orange Line. SB 650 (Padilla) of 2007 would have authorized transit agencies to operate articulated buses up to 65 feet subject to a number of restrictions, including limiting the buses to operating on a dedicated right-of-way, and the establishment of a route AB 726 Page 5 review committee. The provisions relating to bus length were eventually amended out of SB 650. 5)Policy Considerations. The Committee may wish to consider the following: a) Potential Changes to the Orange Line. This bill authorizes MTA to use articulated buses up to 82 feet on the route designated as the Orange Line in Los Angeles County. MTA has the authority to change and expand any of their routes, and although the Orange Line currently has bus designated lanes, the authority granted by this bill may have very different safety implications depending on how the Orange Line is expanded or changed in the future. The Committee may wish to ask the author to consider limiting the authority granted to MTA to operate articulated buses up to 82 feet only on currently designated busways on the Orange Line to address safety concerns about the compatibility of these larger buses with other vehicles on regular city streets. b) Safety. According to the United Transportation Union, "The unsafe conditions created by this size of a bus being allowed to be operated, especially in the greater Los Angeles area, far outweighs any benefit for using busses of this size and length." 6)Arguments in Support. Supporters argue that this bill will give the necessary local flexibility to address the growing demands of public transportation in the greater San Fernando Valley. 7)Arguments in Opposition. Opposition argues that this bill will allow for an increase of over 20% in the current legal AB 726 Page 6 length of articulated buses in California and that this creates an unsafe and dangerous driving condition placing both bus passengers and the general driving public in danger. 8)Double-Referral. This bill is double-referred to the Transportation Committee. REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION: Support Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority [SPONSOR] Mayor Eric Garcetti, City of Los Angeles Opposition United Transportation Union Analysis Prepared by:Misa Lennox / L. GOV. / (916) 319-3958 AB 726 Page 7