100% battery-electric busses to help mitigate the pollution. Photos: Courtesy of Long Beach Transit.

By Richard Ricardo Jr. | Staff Writer

Students, staff, and faculty who attended California State University, Dominguez Hills (CSUDH) this semester, may have noticed bright red buses stopping by the campus at Victoria Street. These electric buses are part of a low-emission plan of Long Beach Transit (LBT), aiming to connect Carson and the university to the South Bay and the city of Los Angeles.

This commuting option was introduced this year, in September. It is owned and operated by LBT, which annually runs over 700,000 service hours, using 250 fixed-route buses, according to their website. With the campus continuing to have limited population, this bus route is something students and faculty are just learning about, however, many are excited about this new transportation option. 

“When I found out about this new transportation option to help me get to school at a low rate, directly in front of my job, directly to campus it made my stress level drop, Lyft and Uber were becoming extremely expensive,” said Erickson Hansen, advertising and marketing major.

Other students feel this may be an alternative option to consider, as the high pricing of parking on campus will continue to rise.

“With parking fees expected to increase to $185 to $200 in the 2021-2022 school year, I would like to think that some students including myself may opt to ride LBT, which is a cheaper option to a parking pass on campus,” said Jennifer Manning, a physical education major. 

Executive Director and Vice President of Customer Relations and Communications of LBT, Mike Gold, expressed his enthusiasm for this new transit service. He also expressed hopes of building a partnership with CSUDH to potentially offer discounts.

“This is an exciting time for the city of Carson, this new transit can be a great benefit to the students of CSUDH, as transit can be hard for them to navigate throughout the community,” said Gold. 

The fares will vary depending on the type of rides or passes you chose. For now, CSUDH students pay $1.25 which is the same fee for a regular single ride.

“With this transportation service new to Carson, we still need to build a relationship with CSUDH with the intent to be able to offer students some sort of discounted rate,” said Gold.

LBT shares bus stops with Torrance Transit and Los Angeles Metro, which will allow painless transitions to communities surrounding Carson. To make a trip go smoothly there is a trip planner on their website or alternatively they can utilize moovit, a free app allowing one to navigate the commute around Carson.

Buses are becoming cleaner to help with mitigating pollution in the county.

“We currently have 14 battery electric buses, with a total of 20 within the next 6 months, along with a zero-emission fleet in the next 8 years or so. Los Angeles County is impacted by a lot of pollution and we are trying to do our part,” said Gold.

There are 14 stops with this new transportation service that surrounds CSUDH, which makes it easily accessible for students to get to campus without having to walk a long distance. 

To ride the bus, a rider can pay with cash, a physical TAP card (a prepaid card that can be purchased at many local retailers), or from your mobile device with the TAP App, where it allows you to simply scan your tap card from your phone when entering. To learn more about LBT go to ridelbt.com, where you can find more details about this transit option serving Carson.