Los Angeles Metro bus fleet

The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (also known as "Metro", "MTA", or "LACMTA") operates a vast fleet of buses for its Metro Bus and Metro Busway services. As of September 2019, Metro has the third largest bus fleet in North America with 2,320 buses.
Metro and its predecessor agencies (LAMTA, 1951–64; RTD, 1964–93) have ordered buses from many manufacturers, including GM, Flxible, Grumman, AM General, Transportation Manufacturing Corporation (TMC), Neoplan USA, New Flyer Industries, ElDorado National, Orion Bus Industries, Thomas Built Buses, Blue Bird Corporation, and North American Bus Industries (NABI).
Metro has purchased buses using alternative fuels to diesel, generally consuming compressed natural gas (CNG), since the mid-1990s. The CNG fleet reduces emissions of particulates by 90%, carbon monoxide by 80%, and greenhouse gases by 20%. Alternative fuel buses have logged more than 450,000,000 mi (720,000,000 km) of operation since 1993, an industry record.
In 2015, a battery electric BYD K11M demonstrator was used on the G Line. Metro has committed to move the entire fleet to zero emissions by 2030, ahead of the California Air Resources Board's Innovative Clean Transit requirement for California transit operators to transition by 2040. Since then, the deadline has been pushed back to 2032. Metro board members subsequently rejected a move to delay fleet electrification until 2035. As a first step, the G (formerly Orange) Line will move to full zero-emissions operation by 2020, followed by the J (formerly Silver) Line as soon as possible after that. The G/Orange Line transitioned to all-electric operation by October 2021, using a fleet of 40 New Flyer Xcelsior XE60 Charge NG buses. Each bus has a range of approximately 150 mi (240 km), and rapid overhead charging stations were installed at the North Hollywood, Canoga, and Chatsworth stations.
As of the end of June 2024, due to heat stress and reliability issues with on route charging equipment, Metro has begun using 40-foot (12 m) CNG powered buses to supplement the G Line's dedicated battery-electric fleet. This undoes the G Line's electrification achievement, a long-standing Metro-touted victory in its troubled history of attempting to electrify its bus fleet. The de-electrification of the G Line is despite the board's recent direction to devise a new plan for electrification as soon as possible. Though many of Metro's previous failures have been attributed to its dealings with BYD, the problematic charging equipment on the G Line is manufactured by Siemens, and the buses on the G Line are manufactured by New Flyer.
Metro has also increased its use of on-board vehicle technology. Many buses were equipped with monitors to display real-time bus maps to show the location through GPS navigation starting in 2004; this the first of its kind in the United States. Later, the screens began showing Transit TV broadcasts, including local news programs, starting in August 2006.
The screens were shut off and Transit TV service was discontinued in early 2015, as more passengers were relying on their personal mobile devices, such as cell phones, smartphones, and electronic tablets, for entertainment while riding the buses. The increased use of personal mobile devices by passengers led to the implementation of WiFi on all buses by April 2017. Also, as part of Metro's Advanced Transportation Management System (ATMS) project, most buses include a marquee displaying the date and time, Automatic Voice Annunciation (AVA) for audio and visual announcements of each stop, and an audio and visual "Stop Requested" announcement was added to all buses in 2008. A supplemental audio announcement of "For your safety, watch your step when exiting the bus" was added to all buses on February 28, 2013, and changed voice in March 2015.
When it was formed in 1993, Metro inherited a large fleet of GM/TMC RTS diesel buses; these were initially replaced by Neoplan USA Transliner buses as they aged and retired. Starting in the early 2000s, the primary supplier to the Metro bus fleet was NABI, over a period of approximately 15 years. As one of its largest clients, Metro had considerable influence on NABI designs, including its bus rapid transit vehicles, the 60-BRT designed for the G Line and the composite-bodied Metro 45C, which was named after the agency and shared with Valley Metro.
After NABI’s closure in 2015, several variants of the New Flyer Xcelsior and the ENC Axess were purchased to replace the NABI fleet.
As of September 2019, Metro has the third largest bus fleet in North America with 2,320 buses, behind New York City's Metropolitan Transportation Authority (5,825) and New Jersey's NJ Transit (3,003). Metro operates the nation's largest fleet of compressed natural gas powered buses.
Metro electrified its G line BRT in 2021 using New Flyer XE60 vehicles along with on-route charging at the line's termini. This was undone in June 2024. It is in the process of receiving BYD K9M-ER vehicles which are undergoing delivery procedures and acceptance testing, slated to be used on the J line.
In April 2024, Metro released a procurement Request for Proposals for zero-emissions buses including hydrogen fuel cell vehicles and battery electric vehicles. The board also approved a motion directing Metro CEO Stephanie Wiggins and her staff to report to the board in September with an updated, more comprehensive and accountable plan to decarbonize the agency's bus fleet. These efforts were followed by the reversal of the G line's electrification, which had been a significant achievement in the agency's troubled history of attempting to electrify its bus fleet.
Future
In 1971, RTD took delivery of the first units of its Flxible New Look fleet, painted in a "Copperhead" livery which RTD described as "orange and champagne". The livery, as implemented on its GM and Flxible "New Look" fleet, had the window area painted in ochre yellow and the lower body and front painted in champagne/copper, separated by a broad silver or white stripe down the sides. When RTD introduced a 25 cent flat-fare program in 1974, some of the reserve buses pressed into service were painted a plain white instead of "Copperhead". In 1976, the existing GM Old Look bus fleet were repainted in the new "Copperhead" livery. RTD introduced an "Express" livery in 1977, colored yellow, white, and black, with a broad wedge-shaped stripe down the side.
RTD introduced the "Tri-Stripe" livery in March 1980, designed by Saul Bass and Herb Yager, starting with the existing Grumman/Flxible 870 fleet and continuing with the Rapid Transit Series scheduled for delivery in October 1980. Under this scheme, the window area was painted black and the base was painted white, separated by red, orange, and yellow stripes. The Bass/Yager firm was engaged to rebrand the agency, including a new logo, in June 1979 after the increase in ridership driven by the 1979 oil crisis proved that many residents were unfamiliar with RTD. The oldest "Old Look", which was also the first diesel bus to operate in Los Angeles starting from 1950, was retired with the delivery of the last RTS in June 1981. Most of the existing "New Look" fleet was repainted in the Bass/Yager "Tri-Stripe" livery by August 1984. "Tri-Stripe" was simplified in the early 1990s to facilitate graffiti removal.
Buses inherited from RTD generally carried over a simplified "RTD Tri-Stripe" livery; the base color of the bus was white (including the window area) with a triple-stacked stripe of red, orange, and yellow extending from the base of the windshield down the sides of the bus, carried below the side windows. This was simplified to "Red Stripe", white with a double-stacked stripe of red and yellow in the same position, and "Yellow Jacket" in 1997, white with a double-stacked gold stripe in the same position, featuring a stylized text logo "Metro Bus" prominently on the front and sides of the bus.
Starting in the early 2000s, the "Metro Service" livery was implemented under the leadership of creative director Michael Lejeune and lead designer Neil Sadler. The base color of buses, visible on the lower edge and the extended roof cap for CNG storage, was Silver / Pantone 877 C metallic, supplemented by a broad stripe starting just below the side windows and extending to the top of the bus, denoting the service type:
The colors are supplemented by text restating the service type in the FF Scala Sans typeface, bold weight. This branding scheme won an honor award from the Society for Experiential Graphic Design in 2007. Since then, the Express services have been scaled back and the colors have been modified.
Typically, the supplemental text agree with the livery, such as Metro Local used with the Poppy Orange color. However as of late 2020, Metro dropped the text specification for newer buses and those undergoing their midlife refit. Since then, beginning with the second batch of New Flyer XN60s delivered in 2020-2021 and newer (buses 8765 and newer), buses are now simply labeled "Metro Bus" echoing the "Yellow Jacket" livery while buses still retain the "Service" color distinctions for local, rapid, and liner liveries. New Flyer XE60s used to replace the G Line fleet and convert it to zero-emissions operation were delivered before this change in late 2020, and as such, use a "Go Metro" label not found on other buses. Other buses feature a large text "Go Metro" on their roof rails, however not as a bus label such as "Metro Rapid", "Metro Local", or "Metro Bus". Since then, BYD K-series vehicles on the J line and newer buses have adopted the "Metro Bus" labels, defining that label as the preferred option moving forward.
The XE60s that replaced the NABI Metro Liners on the G (Orange) line dropped the orange accents and text colors so they could be used elsewhere without too much confusion. Although there are currently no other divisions or lines that are equipped with the required supporting infrastructure, Metro may need to expand capacity by adding larger, potentially double-articulated vehicles for the G line, as the line is at capacity and needs an upgrade before its eventual conversion to light rail. Thus, the flexible branding enables Metro to reassign the XE60s currently being used for the G line without needing to take them out of service for re-brands.
With the same logic, new J (Silver) line buses are no longer branded with the tagline "A faster way to downtown" as old J line buses are entering service on other routes such as the 2 with the addition of BYD K9Ms to electrify the J line and the fact that new electric busway-designated buses are also sometimes used on inaugural runs of new routes such as the 33 in addition to local service and thus don't feature exclusive branding to the busway line the bus is normally usually assigned to.
Under the Metro governance structure, the routes operating out of each division are supervised by an integrated/centralized operations division with oversight provided by one of five Service Councils covering a distinct geographical region of Los Angeles County. Each Service Council has a three-letter abbreviation.
Each Service Council is composed of elected officials, appointed representatives, and transit users from a given area served by each division. While the Councils have geographical boundaries, in practice they only define where the members come from, as most of Los Angeles is served by routes operating out of multiple sectors. For instance, the former Olympic Boulevard Rapid bus was operated by buses from the San Gabriel Valley sector, despite its entire route being in the Westside or Central Los Angeles areas.
Decals with service sector abbreviations and division numbers are affixed to the windows of Metro buses. A list of routes operating from each sector can be found in the Service Council Bylaws.
Division 3 in Cypress Park is the oldest bus yard owned by Metro, operating since 1907. About 200 buses currently operate out of the yard.
The following table lists all current bus divisions (rail divisions are not included):
Division 10 was closed for revenue service during the COVID-19 pandemic in September 2020. Vehicles were re-assigned, however Metro has kept the property. It will be used to store other buses when their respective divisions are being equipped for zero-emissions revenue service. Due to the nature of the upgrades required at each division, some divisions may need to temporarily relocate their current CNG buses to have enough space for construction.
The following table lists all former divisions.