The Los Angeles Department of Transportation, commonly referred to as LADOT, is a municipal agency that oversees transportation planning, design, construction, maintenance and operations within the city of

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. LADOT was created by city ordinance, and is run by a general manager appointed by the

Mayor of Los Angeles The mayor of Los Angeles is the head of the executive branch of the government of Los Angeles and the chief executive of Los Angeles. The office is officially Non-partisan democracy, nonpartisan, a change made in the 1909 charter; previously, ...

, under the oversight of a citizens' commission also appointed by the mayor. LADOT is best known for providing

public transportation Public transport (also known as public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) are forms of transport available to the general public. It typically uses a fixed schedule, route and charges a fixed fare. There is no rigid definition of whi ...

to the City of

. It currently operates the second-largest fleet in

Los Angeles County Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles and sometimes abbreviated as LA County, is the most populous county in the United States, with 9,663,345 residents estimated in 2023. Its population is greater than that of 40 individua ...

next to

Metro Metro may refer to: Geography * Metro City (Indonesia), a city in Indonesia * A metropolitan area, the populated region including and surrounding an urban center Public transport * Rapid transit, a passenger railway in an urban area with high ...

. It consist of over 300 vehicles, serving nearly 30 million passengers a year and operating over 800,000 hours. LADOT also develops the

traffic signal Traffic lights, traffic signals, or stoplights – also known as robots in South Africa, Zambia, and Namibia – are signaling devices positioned at intersection (road), road intersections, pedestrian crossings, and other locations in order t ...

timing and

transportation planning Transportation planning is the process of defining future policies, goals, investments, and spatial planning designs to prepare for future needs to move people and goods to destinations. As practiced today, it is a collaborative process that i ...

for the city. Actual road maintenance and construction is provided by the Los Angeles City Department of Public Works through StreetsLA, formerly the Bureau of Street Services, and the Bureau of Engineering. LADOT performs many transportation related duties, with six main operating groups: Parking Enforcement & Traffic Control, Operations, Project Delivery, Parking Management & Regulations, Transit Services, and Administration.

Routes

DASH

DASH is LADOT's system of neighborhood circulator bus services. DASH buses serve to provide localized service in a neighborhood, and for passengers making longer trips, acting as a feeder to the countywide Metro Bus and Metro Rail system. The name DASH started as

acronym An acronym is a type of abbreviation consisting of a phrase whose only pronounced elements are the initial letters or initial sounds of words inside that phrase. Acronyms are often spelled with the initial Letter (alphabet), letter of each wor ...

for Downtown Area Short Hop, the original purpose of the service. Since its launch in

Downtown Los Angeles Downtown Los Angeles (DTLA) is the central business district of the city of Los Angeles. It is part of the Central Los Angeles region and covers a area. As of 2020, it contains over 500,000 jobs and has a population of roughly 85,000 residents ...

, DASH has expanded to 27 other neighborhoods in the City of Los Angeles. DASH buses are or long, making it easier to navigate in dense neighborhoods with narrower streets and tighter turns compared to a typical transit bus. All buses in the DASH fleet are powered by either low-emission

CNG Compressed natural gas (CNG) is a fuel gas mainly composed of methane (CH4), compressed to less than 1% of the volume it occupies at standard atmospheric pressure. It is stored and distributed in hard containers at a pressure of , usually in c ...

Propane Propane () is a three-carbon chain alkane with the molecular formula . It is a gas at standard temperature and pressure, but becomes liquid when compressed for transportation and storage. A by-product of natural gas processing and petroleum ref ...

engines or are zero-emission

battery electric bus A battery electric bus is an electric bus that is driven by an electric motor and obtains energy from on-board batteries. Many trolleybuses use batteries as an auxiliary or emergency power source. Battery electric buses offer the potential for z ...

es.

Commuter Express

Commuter Express is an

express bus Public transport bus services are generally based on regular operation of transit buses along a route calling at agreed bus stops according to a published public transport timetable. History of buses Origins While there are indications o ...

service, consisting of 15 routes, all but one running during rush hours only. Service started in 1985. Fares are based on a flat rate for travel on streets plus an extra charge based on the distance traveled on freeways. Most Commuter Express buses are or

MCI D-Series The MCI D-Series is a model of motorcoach bus produced by Motor Coach Industries (MCI). The bus is primarily used by private companies operating scheduled service or commuter buses, government agencies for the transport of prisoners, and in mor ...

motorcoaches, offering a more comfortable ride on these longer routes. All buses in the Commuter Express fleet are powered by low-emission

engines or are zero-emission

es. Route 142 operates more like a normal transit route, operating daily at all hours, using more typical transit buses. The route was previously operated by

Long Beach Transit Long Beach Transit (LBT) is the operator of public transit bus and ferry services in Long Beach, California and its surrounding cities. Long Beach Transit operates 37 bus routes, serving the Gateway Cities region of Los Angeles County. In additi ...

. Routes 419, 423, 431, 437, 438, and 448 are former

Southern California Rapid Transit District The Southern California Rapid Transit District (almost always referred to as ''RTD'' or rarely as ''SCRTD'') was a public transportation agency established in 1964 to serve the Greater Los Angeles area. It was the successor to the original Los ...

lines that were transferred to LADOT.1985 RTD Bus Map
Retrieved 2014-09-20 Unless otherwise noted, all services operates towards Downtown LA during the morning rush and from Downtown LA during the afternoon rush. For the purposes of this chart, closed-door means that customers are not allowed to use buses for local trips and open-door means that customers are allowed to use buses for local trips.

Bus fleet

DASH

Commuter Express

References

External links

Los Angeles Department of TransportationTrafficInfoDepartment summary, p. 36
{{DEFAULTSORT:Los Angeles Department Of Transportation Public transportation in Los Angeles County, California Bus transportation in California Transportation in Los Angeles Transportation in the San Fernando Valley Transportation in Los Angeles County, California

Transportation Transport (in British English) or transportation (in American English) is the intentional Motion, movement of humans, animals, and cargo, goods from one location to another. Mode of transport, Modes of transport include aviation, air, land tr ...

Transit authorities with alternative-fuel vehicles Government agencies of Los Angeles