By Lookout Staff

February 28, 2011 --The Expo line is coming in just a few more years, and the Big Blue Bus company doesn't want to be caught unprepared.

The transit company is studying its routes, line-by-busline, to decide how to serve the public more efficiently and how to adapt when the train comes to town.

Now Big Blue Bus needs your feedback. It's holding six meetings to discuss some of the changes it's contemplating and to get input from its riders.

The changes include having more Rapid 7 buses and fewer local 7's, changing the Express 10 to a Rapid 10 by reducing the number of stops on its route, and eliminating Route 13.

The company also has some ideas about how to improve downtown circulation, and how to adapt its routes to the transit corridor the Expo line will create when it crosses through Santa Monica from Bergamot Station to 4th Street and Colorado Boulevard.

Big Blue Bus welcomes the public to any or all of the following meetings:

• Wednesday, March 2 from 6-8 p.m. at the Ken Edwards Center, Room 100, 1527 4th Street, Santa Monica. Take bus routes 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8 or 9;
• Thursday, March 3 from 6-8 p.m. at the Palms/Rancho Park Library, 2nd Floor, 2920 Overland Ave., Los Angeles. Take bus routes 8 or 12 to Westwood Boulevard at National, (library is 2 blocks east on Overland);
• Saturday, March 5 from 2:30-5:30 p.m., Santa Monica Main Library, 2nd Floor, 601 Santa Monica Boulevard, Santa Monica. Take bus routes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, or 10;
• Tuesday, March 8 from 6-8 p.m., Thelma Terry Center, Virginia Avenue Park, 2200 Virginia Avenue, Santa Monica. Take bus route 7;
• Wednesday, March 9 from 12-2 p.m., UCLA's Ackerman Union, Room 3517. Take bus route 1, 2, 3, 8, 11, 12 or Super 12; and
• Thursday, March 10 from 11 a.m.-1 p.m., Santa Monica College, Main Campus, Curriculum Development, Room 193, 1900 Pico Boulevard, Santa Monica. Take bus route 6, 7, Rapid 7, 8, 11, Sunset Ride or Crosstown Ride.

All meetings will be held in handicapped accessible facilities. Disability-related accommodation requests should be made at least three days prior to a meeting by calling (310) 458-1975 extension 5854 (TTY 310-395-6024) or by e-mailing Bus-Info@BigBlueBus.com.

Public feedback from the meetings will be included in a report given by Big Blue Bus officials at the May 10 City Council meeting.