G Line (Los Angeles Metro)

G Line
Metro Liner traveling on the exclusive busway near Chatsworth
Overview
Other name(s)	Orange Line (2005–2020)
Line number	901
Termini	North Hollywood Chatsworth
Stations	17
Service
Type	Bus rapid transit
System	Los Angeles Metro Busway
Operator(s)	Metro (LACMTA)
Depot(s)	Division 8 (West San Fernando Valley)
Rolling stock	New Flyer XE60
Daily ridership	22,256 (February 2020)[1]
History
Opened	October 29, 2005; 16 years ago (2005-10-29)
Technical
Line length	18 mi (29 km)[2]
Character	At-grade exclusive right-of-way
Route map Legend Ventura County Line to East Ventura Chatsworth Ventura County Line to Union Station Division 8 yard Nordhoff Roscoe Sherman Way Los Angeles River Warner Center discontinued 2018 Canoga De Soto Pierce College Tampa Reseda Los Angeles River Balboa Bull Creek Woodley I-405 Sepulveda Sepulveda Pass Transit Corridor (planned) Van Nuys East San Fernando Light Rail Transit Project (2028) Woodman Valley College Tujunga Wash Laurel Canyon/Valley Village SR 170 North Hollywood     B Line to Union Station all stations accessible This diagram: view talk

The G Line (formerly the Orange Line) is a bus rapid transit line in Los Angeles, California, operated by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro). It operates between Chatsworth and North Hollywood stations in the San Fernando Valley. The 18-mile (29 km) G Line uses a dedicated, exclusive right-of-way for the entirety of its route with stations located at approximately one mile (1.6 km) intervals; fares are paid via TAP cards at vending machines on station platforms before boarding to improve performance. It is one of the two lines in the Metro Busway system.

The line, which opened on October 29, 2005, follows part of the Southern Pacific Railroad's former Burbank Branch Line which provided passenger rail service from 1904 to 1920; it was subsequently used by Pacific Electric streetcars from 1911 to 1952. At North Hollywood station, the G Line connects with the B Line subway which offers service to Downtown Los Angeles via Hollywood. The Metro Orange Line bicycle path runs alongside part of the route.

In 2020, the line was renamed from Orange Line to the G Line while retaining the color orange in its square icon as part of a complete renaming of lines by the LACMTA.^[3][4][5][6]

The Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP), under its BRT Standard, has given the Orange Line corridor a Bronze ranking.^[7]

Service description[]

Because of its many differences from a standard bus service, Metro has branded the G Line as part of the region's network of light and heavy rail lines and it appears on the same system map as the rail lines. The buses are painted in the silver-and-gray color scheme of Metro Rail vehicles. The G Line is rarely referred to by its line number (901), but it sometimes appears on documents and destination signage.

The G Line's icon color, and former Orange Line name, were inspired by the many citrus trees that once blanketed the San Fernando Valley. In the planning stages the G Line was known as the San Fernando Valley East-West Transitway, and later the Metro Rapidway.

Operation[]

G Line buses operate 24 hours a day.^[8] At peak hours (between 6am and 7pm eastbound, 5am and 6pm westbound), every other bus is a short turn, only operating between North Hollywood and Canoga station.

Station list[]

The G Line serves 17 stations, they are, from west to east:

Stations	Date opened	Neighborhood	Major connections and notes[9][10]
Chatsworth	June 30, 2012	Chatsworth	Amtrak and Ventura County Line Park and ride: 609 spaces
Nordhoff
Roscoe		Canoga Park
Sherman Way			Park and ride: 207 spaces
Canoga	December 27, 2006[11]		Park and ride: 246 spaces
De Soto	October 29, 2005	Winnetka
Pierce College			Park and ride: 392 spaces
Tampa		Tarzana
Reseda			Park and ride: 442 spaces
Balboa		Lake Balboa	Park and ride: 273 spaces
Woodley		Van Nuys
Sepulveda			Park and ride: 260 spaces
Van Nuys			Park and ride: 307 spaces East San Fernando Light Rail Transit Project (2028)
Woodman		Valley Glen
Valley College
Laurel Canyon/Valley Village		Valley Village
North Hollywood		North Hollywood	Park and ride: 1,085 spaces

Ridership[]

History[]

The majority of the Orange Line is built on part of the former Southern Pacific Railroad Burbank branch, part of which saw Pacific Electric Red Car service;^[12] passenger service on this segment ended in 1952,^{[citation needed]} but the right-of-way remained undeveloped and was acquired by Metro in 1991.^[12] As the Metro Rail system was being designed in the 1990s, initial plans were to build an extension of the Metro Red Line there, since the purchased right-of-way's eastern terminus was at the site of the planned North Hollywood station. However, political developments stymied these plans: community objections to surface transit along the route resulted in a 1991 law mandating that any line along the route be built as a deep-bore tunnel,^[13][14] but a 1998 ballot measure driven by perceptions of mismanagement banned the use of county sales tax to fund subway tunneling.^[15][16][17] Prevented from using the route for rail, Metro proceeded to create its first bus rapid transit line along the corridor, and despite further lawsuits from area residents,^[18] the line opened on October 29, 2005, at a final cost of $324 million or $23 million per mile ($429 million and $30.5 million in 2020 adjusted for inflation).^[19]

Then-County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky said they initially mirrored the busway concept based on a similar transit system he, then-Mayor Richard Riordan, and other elected officials toured in Curitiba, Brazil.^[20]

On June 23, 2009 construction began on a four-mile (6.4 km) extension from Canoga northward along the Southern Pacific trackbed^[21] to the Metrolink station in Chatsworth. Metro's board approved the plan on September 28, 2006, and it was completed in 2012 at a cost of $215 million ($242 million in 2020 adjusted for inflation).^[22][23][24] This created two branches at the western end of the line beyond Canoga station; the older branch proceeded outside the busway on city streets to Warner Center. In 2018, this branch was eliminated and replaced with a frequent service local shuttle, leaving the entirety of the Orange Line on dedicated right-of-way.^[25]

Proposed developments[]

Grade separation and crossing gates[]

Orange Line bus crossing a level crossing at Burbank Boulevard and Fulton Avenue

In the first year that the busway was open, there were ten injury collisions between vehicles and buses, which were heavily covered in the media. Metro noted that the buses had about the same accident rate as other bus lines in the city on a per-mile basis,^[26][27] and has stated that the line's accident rate is "less than half" of Metro's entire fleet of buses.^[28] They also pointed out that the A Line also had a significant number of collisions in its early years.^[29] Under pressure, Metro ordered buses to slow down from 25–30 mph (40–48 km/h) to just 10 mph (16 km/h) when crossing intersections.^[30][31] Starting in December 2005, red light cameras were installed at most intersections.^[32]

Prototype grade crossing with red lights and "Busway Crossing" crossbucks, the very first in the United States

As part of the package of enhancement to the LA Metro system approved by voters in 2016 with Measure M, in October 2017 Metro recommended a series of improvements to the Orange Line. These include quad crossing gates at 34 intersections, and the construction of a mile-long elevated section between Sepulveda and Van Nuys Boulevard. These improvements would eliminate much of the time Orange Line buses spend waiting at red lights, would allow buses to cross intersections at higher speeds, and would cut end-to-end travel time along the entire route by 29%. Projected construction costs are $283 million.

The project is currently in the pre-construction, planning, and public outreach phase, but the goal is to begin full construction in 2023 and complete it by 2025.^[33][34] The pre-construction phase of the Metro Orange Line grade-separation has already begun, starting with the LADWP undergrounding the overhead power lines at Sepulveda Blvd and Orange Line in Van Nuys.

Capacity enhancements[]

There is concern that the Orange Line will soon reach its engineered capacity, and has exceeded its designed capacity during peak periods.^[35] During peak hours, the signaling system is designed to balance the busway traffic with vehicle cross traffic. Adding more buses requires platooning, running convoys of two or more buses together, similar to what rail achieves in having multiple cars per train. Greater signal prioritization is also an option, and comes at the cost of decreasing cross street travel times and capacity. Another alternative requires the changing of state law or the granting of a Caltrans exemption from state law and the purchasing of 80-foot-long (24 m) buses.^[36]

Conversion to light rail[]

In April 2015, a report prepared for Metro estimated that conversion of the Orange Line to light rail would take two to three years and cost between $1.2 and $1.7 billion. This price would include both upgraded infrastructure and the purchase of rail vehicles. The report noted that if not upgraded in some way in the near future, the Orange Line would soon reach capacity at rush hours.^[37] Full conversion to light rail is planned to take place by 2050.^[34]

Incidents[]

On October 27, 2005, two days before the line's official opening, a motorist driving with a suspended license ran a red light and collided with an eastbound bus at Vesper Avenue. There were no injuries.^[38]

During November 2005 there were two collision-caused injuries. In the first, a fare inspector on the bus was taken to a hospital for minor injuries after a 65-year-old female driver made an illegal right turn against a red light and struck an Orange Line bus near the crossing at Corbin Avenue in Reseda.^[39] In the second, one person was seriously injured and 14 others hospitalized after an elderly motorist apparently ran a red light while using a mobile phone.^[40] After the second collision, Metro instructed all buses to slow down at intersections^[30] and installed white strobe lights on the sides of the buses to improve visibility. They said that they would review any and all ideas to improve safety on the line.^[31]

In October 2006, a delivery truck hit the side of a bus. One person was seriously injured and 16 received minor injuries.^[41]

Fleet[]

G Line bus using en-route charger at North Hollywood station

Metro has a dedicated fleet of 40 New Flyer XE60 battery-electric buses to serve the G Line.^[42] Each bus has a battery capacity of 320 kW-hr.^[43]

The buses are 60 ft (18 m) long, 20 ft (6.1 m) longer than the standard forty-foot bus, and carry up to 57 passengers, which is about 50% more passengers. The buses are articulated in the center due to this longer length and have three doors for faster boarding and alighting. Vehicles have no fareboxes because the Metro G Line operates on a proof-of-payment system, like the Metro Rail network. Buses are capable of traveling up to 150 mi (240 km) between charges.

There are en-route rapid charging stations at the Canoga, Chatsworth, and North Hollywood stations which can add about 40 mi (64 km) of range during a 7-10 minute charge during a layover at a rate of 450 and 600 kW. These en-route chargers are manufactured by Siemens and are compliant with the SAE J3105-1 standard.^[43] Buses are stored and maintained at Metro's Division 8 yard which is located in Chatsworth and has direct access to the busway. There are ten additional slow (150 kW) chargers at Division 8 to recharge buses when they are stored overnight or mid-day. Both the rapid (en-route) and slow (depot) chargers use an overhead pantograph to interface with vehicle contacts. The depot chargers will be used in a one-to-many scheme, where the 150 kW from a single charger is divided between multiple overhead pantograph outlets.^[43][44]

Metro's XE60 buses were equipped with dual air conditioning units to keep buses cool during hot summer days in the San Fernando Valley, two drive axles for better acceleration, an active suspension system to smooth out bumps, and no large cooling fans to make buses operate quieter. Inside the bus, there are USB device charging ports at seats and public WiFi for passengers.^[42]

Each electric bus cost $1.15 million each, the electrification project including the buses, charging equipment and infrastructure improvements came at a total cost of $80 million.^[42]

See also[]

• List of Los Angeles Metro Busway stations

References[]

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to G Line (Los Angeles Metro).

• LA Metro: Orange Line map and stations – route map and station addresses and features
• LA Metro: Orange Line Timetable – schedules
• LA Metro: Orange Line Extension – 4 miles (6.4 km) extension under construction from Canoga Station north to Chatsworth Metrolink Station (2012).
• Orange Line history
• LA Metro: official (countywide) website – operator of the Orange Line
• Light Rail Now: "A Bus by Any Other Name Is Still ... a Train ? " – by The Light Rail Now project.