Los Angeles Metro Bus is the transit bus service in Los Angeles County, California operated by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro). In, the system had a ridership of , or about per weekday as of. , there are 116 routes in the system (excluding Metro Busway routes). The Los Angeles Metro bus has the third largest fleet in North America, with 2,320 buses. The majority of Metro Bus lines are operated by Metro directly, with select services operated by private contractors.

History

The Metro Bus brand dates back to the 1993 founding of Metro, but many of the routes in the system are little changed from the bus routes of the prior Southern California Rapid Transit District (RTD) or the streetcar routes operated by the Pacific Electric Red Cars or the Los Angeles Railway Yellow Cars. Starting in 2003, Metro operated its bus network under three different brands: orange Metro Local buses for traditional routes, red Metro Rapid buses for limited stop routes, and blue Metro Express buses for minimal stop services along the region's extensive freeway network. The separate brands were retired in 2020 as part of Metro's NextGen Bus Plan, a major restructuring of the agencies routes, with most of the Metro Rapid routes retired in favor of more frequent service on the former Metro Local routes, which will now make fewer stops.

Routes

Metro buses are given line numbers that indicate the type of service offered. This method was devised originally by the Southern California Rapid Transit District, Metro's predecessor.

1-99 (Local routes to/from Downtown Los Angeles)

Local bus service to/from Downtown Los Angeles and other areas. The line numbering begins at line 2 (Sunset Bl, a line leading west from USC) and proceeds counterclockwise around Downtown Los Angeles, ending at line 96 (Riverside Dr.)

100s (Local east/west routes in other areas)

East/west service, not necessarily serving Downtown Los Angeles.

200s (Local north/south routes in other areas)

North/south service, not serving in Downtown Los Angeles.

300s (Limited-stop routes)

400s (Freeway express routes to/from Downtown Los Angeles)

500s (Freeway express routes in other areas)

600s (Shuttles/circulators)

Shuttles, special routes and local service within one or two adjacent neighborhoods.

700s (Rapid limited-stop routes)

800s (Metro Rail shuttle)

900s (Metro Busway)

Fleet

, Metro operates 2,320 buses in revenue service, the third-largest fleet in North America behind New York City's Metropolitan Transportation Authority (5,840) and New Jersey's NJ Transit (3,003). Metro operates the nation's largest fleet of compressed natural gas powered buses.

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