According to a story in SurfSanta Monica, “The Big Blue Bus will break ground next week on a new eco-friendly maintenance facility that will service a growing fleet and features solar panels, reclaimed water and recycled materials.

“The 66,000-square-foot state-of-the-art facility…will feature 5,000 square feet of offices…20 new repair bays, including two chassis wash bays, The new maintenance facility will feature locker rooms, a training room, library, parts storage and other specialized areas. The upgrades will utilize the most advanced and sustainable building systems, construction materials and landscaping available today…

“Some of the new “green” technologies that will be used in the project include: Photovoltaic panels that collect power from the sun and supply energy to the buildings. Construction materials made of recycled content such as concrete, steel, insulation, and gypsum board to reduce landfill waste. A reclaimed water irrigation system for landscaping and water efficient landscaping plants and materials. Storm water management and site infiltration to ensure water entering the bay will be clean. Carpeting and other interior building materials containing recycled content.
Light colored concrete in the bus yard to cool the air temperature and reduce the ‘heat island’ effect. Light colored single-ply roofing called ‘Cool roof’ to reflect solar energy away from the buildings and prevent heat buildup in the facilities. Construction waste management to reduce the amount of material going into landfills. Dual glazed, low-e glazing for interior office spaces to keep the buildings cool in summer and warm in winter. No VOC off-gassing materials, to help keep the interior air fresh and free of toxins.

“The three-year construction project is expected to begin in February 2008, with completion expected in early 2010.”

Sounds great, doesn’t it? More buses. Bigger, smaller and better buses. Expanded, improved and eco-perfect facilities. And it’ll only take two years and cost $80 million.

The only thing wrong with this picture is that this fine new, expanded Big Blue bus is in the wrong place.

At Sixth and Colorado, it’s squarely in the middle of one of the most congested areas in downtown Santa Monica, and buses coming and going from the bus yard all day long exacerbate the congestion. An expanded yard and all those additional buses and routes will only make the traffic turmoil wider and deeper.

The bus yard should have been moved out of downtown Santa Monica years ago to City-owned land on the eastern edge of Santa Monica Airport. Not only would the move have reduced bus traffic in downtown Santa Monica, it would have enabled Big Blue to offer park-and-ride service, which would reduce automobile traffic all over town, reduced the need for and cost of additional parking structures, as well as making the large downtown site available for far more compatible uses. such as an affordable housing complex, parking (people could literally drive off the freeway and into the parking structure), and perhaps a park (the proverbial calm at the center).

It could also be the final stop on the Expo light rail, which is now slated for the Sears Auto Shop site that the City recently bought for $34 million and is only a block west of the bus yard.

City policy makers discussed the bus yard expansion and its scope, size, and cost for years. During those endless discussions, we proposed this alternative course in countless editorials, which may have in itself been reason enough for City Hall to reject it out of hand. But, as we recall, residents proposed similar alternatives at Council meetings.

We continue to believe that it makes infinitely more sense than the City’s plan.

City Hall has never explained why it’s so devoted to this plan, but, as you may have noticed, once it decides on a course of action, it never deviates – no matter what.

Eco-paradise for buses not withstanding, we find that single-mindedness profoundly unsettling.