Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority - Fleet

Fleet

Most buses are equipped with monitors for Transit TV broadcasts and to display real-time bus maps to show the location through GPS navigation; the latter is the first of its kind in the United States. Also, as part of Metro's ATMS project, most buses include a marquee displaying the date and time, Automatic Voice Annunciation (AVA) for audio and visual announcements for each stop, and an audio and visual Stop Requested announcement.

Most buses operated by First Transit, Transportation Concepts, and Southland Transit have five-digit fleet numbers. Contractors formerly operated some of the 2000-, 2300-, 2500-, 2700-, 3300-, and 4400-series buses; Southland Transit currently operates several (7000-7214), (7300-7514), series buses on Lines 254, 266, 270, 577X, and a few on 605. A few of these buses have the ATMS technology on them (when they were transferred from Metro).

Metro Local buses are painted orange ("California Poppy"), Metro Rapid buses are painted red, and Metro Express buses are painted blue. Metro Local buses acquired prior to the adoption of these colors in 2004 are white with a gold stripe around the bus; these buses been painted orange during their mid-life rehabilitation (except for the 5300-series New Flyer buses assigned to Metro Rapid lines, which were repainted in red livery in 2004-05). The 7000- and 7600-series buses acquired for Metro Rapid service in 2000 and 2002 are red with a white stripe along the top (7102-7112, 7617-7618, 7628, 7643, 7646 were white with a red Metro Rapid logo on all sides and some of these buses have been repainted to standard red and white and a few have been converted to Metro Local service), but some have been repainted to the current red and silver livery. Most had been repainted beginning in 2007; some have been repainted either in the updated Metro Rapid scheme or in Metro Local colors.

Metro operates the nation's largest fleet of CNG-powered buses. The CNG fleet reduces emissions of particulates by 90%, carbon monoxide by 80%, and greenhouse gases by 20% over the 500 remaining diesel powered buses in the fleet. Alternative fuel buses have logged more than 450 million operating miles since 1993, an industry record. Metro has retired all Diesel buses (not including contracted buses) and became an entirely clean-air fleet in January 2011.

Beginning December 17, 2006, Metro Local Lines 233 (Van Nuys Blvd.) and 204 (Vermont Ave.) were the first Metro Local lines to use 60-foot (18 m) NABI articulated buses (9400-9494 and some 9500-9594 series). These buses are also currently in use on Metro Local Line 40 (Hawthorne Bl./Crenshaw Bl./MLK Bl./Broadway Ave.), Metro Local Line 66 (8th Street/E. Olympic Bl.) and Metro Local Line 207 (Western Ave.).