By Mary Getlein

Changes are coming to the Big Blue Bus service in Venice. They were approved by the Santa Monica City Council on May 12 and will go into effect August 28.

The biggest change that will affect Venice bus riders is the elimination of Line 2, which will end at Hill St. and Main St. in Santa Monica. Line 1 will take over the route of Line 2 and will go from UCLA to Walgrove Ave, which is the same route Line 2 had. On weekends, however, some trips will end on Lincoln Blvd. instead of Walgrove Ave. In addition, Sunday frequency will be increased from every 20 minutes to every 15 minutes between 11am and 8:30pm.

Whom does this change affect? The poor, disabled, young and old people of Venice. The number 2 line serviced a lot of people in Venice, going from UCLA to the Windward circle, to Abbot Kinney Blvd., California Ave. to Penmar and Walgrove Ave. It currently serves two sets of Venice children and young adults, the students of Mark Twain and Venice High. It’s a shame this service is being taken away from us, when so much has been taken away already.

The service changes are part of a three-year plan to allow for connections to the Expo Phase 1 light rail, which is scheduled to start in 2012.

The Big Blue Bus has planned similar changes for Lines 3, 5, 12, 14 and Super 12. If you want to register your complaints about these changes, you can contact them through www.BigBlue.com or you can call Customer Service at 310-451-5444.