On-demand transit for Long Beach, CA
Service opportunity summary · November 12, 2026
Illustrative demo. Zones, funders and costs are illustrative and the Planner ran on synthetic (FAKE DATA) inputs. Real-program figures carry a source and date and are marked VERIFY until checked.
The opportunity
Not yet verified
LB Circuit program: annual cost
City of Long Beach (to be sourced), TBD · VERIFY
Not yet verified
LB Circuit program: cost per trip
City of Long Beach (to be sourced), TBD · VERIFY
Not yet verified
LB Circuit program: monthly riders
City of Long Beach (to be sourced), TBD · VERIFY
What the Planner found
- Candidate zone 1 (around Belmont Shore, 2nd Street): 6.0 sq mi, about 623 modeled trips a day, anchored to Belmont Shore, 2nd Street.
- Candidate zone 2 (around 1st Street Transit Gallery): 2.4 sq mi, about 235 modeled trips a day, anchored to Downtown Long Beach A Line station, 1st Street Transit Gallery.
| Scenario (modeled) | Vehicles | Trips/day | Riders per vehicle-hour | Cost per trip | Annual cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Current illustrative zone | 12 | 667 | 3.6 | $12.39 | $2,975,486 |
| Extend zone north | 15 | 727 | 3.2 | $14.18 | $3,709,591 |
| Planner candidate zones (illustrative) | 22* | 1,013 | 3.6 | $12.78 | $4,660,531 |
* Fleet sized by the Planner to carry modeled peak demand at the target of 5 riders per vehicle-hour. Modeled estimates, not observed data, and not comparable with the current program's figures until the Planner runs on the city's real data.
Who pays
Planned split: Rider 0% · Sponsors & foundations 40% · City 60%. Riders ride free. OpenTransit charges a flat monthly fee, never a commission on rides.
For a typical trip in “Current illustrative zone” ($12.39): Rider $0.00 · Sponsors & foundations $4.96 · City $7.43.
Sources: Illustrative downtown business sponsor; Illustrative business improvement district (BID) contribution; Illustrative coastal community foundation; City of Long Beach co-pay.
What happens next
- Run the free Planner on Long Beach's real public data (Census, commute records, transit schedules) and any trip data the city holds.
- Choose the full platform or City OS over the current operator; agree on targets for wait time, cost per trip and riders per vehicle-hour.
- Secure funding commitments for the split, with rules for what happens if a source runs out.
- Launch one right-sized zone for six months; publish open data monthly; re-plan with the actual trips.
OpenTransit Lab · open-source, nonprofit-run · the data belongs to the city · opentransitlab.org/demo · Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors; U.S. Census Bureau.