The Los Angeles County Metro Construction Committee has approved buying 100 long-range electric buses, providing a resolution that will keep the popular Silver Line, which delivers riders from the port town, through downtown Los Angeles and to El Monte without the need for a transfer.
In 2020, plans were unveiled to electrify the Silver Line (now officially known as the J Line). But the buses being used at that time had a limited range, meaning they would have to be taken out of service and charged at Metro facilities at the Harbor Gateway Transit Center.
That would force riders to board a more polluting bus to finish their trip to San Pedro.
The new buses, expected to arrive by the end of the year, will have a range of 200 miles. The older electric buses had a 150-mile range.
“Electric vehicle technology is improving so quickly,” said Supervisor Janice Hahn, “and now we have these electric buses available that can carry riders on the Silver Line from San Pedro to El Monte and back on a single charge.”
The change order for the newer buses was unanimously approved by the Metro Operations committee on Thursday, March 17, and has been put on the consent calendar for Metro’s upcoming full board meeting.
The original November 2020 move to go forward with the bus line that would stop about 10 miles shy of San Pedro and require a transfer was stopped by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
Because there was no Metro-owned property in the port town that could provide a recharging station so a regular, more polluting bus would have to be used to finish the route.
Hahn said at the time that option was “difficult to accept.”
She urged Metro to look to other agencies to host a recharging facility. But in the end, the fast-changing technology in electrified vehicles solved the issue.
When it debuted in 2015, the Silver Line Express was celebrated for its faster and more frequent service. It also didn’t require passengers back then to transfer at the Harbor Gateway Transit Center. The new service was hailed as providing an alternative to sitting in traffic on the 110 Freeway.