Santa Monica's Big Blue Bus has increased its overall ridership by 2.3 percent between 2004 and 2007, which is higher than the national average and translates into half a million more trips taken every year.  

Weekday trips grew by 1.3 percent during the same period, thanks in part to large gains in some popular routes, while weekend figures were up 9.6 percent on Saturdays and 7.3 percent on Sundays, translating into 4,500 more people taking the bus on weekends.  

"I think people are realizing that taking transit makes a lot of sense, especially with gas prices so high and people having to spend so much more of their income now on filling up the tank," said Dan Dawson, Big Blue’s customer relations manager.  

Additionally, according to a Transtrack report, the Big Blue fleet carries an average of 51 passengers per vehicle hour compared with the national average of 26.