How it started
Early history
Following National City Lines' sale of its Glendale operations to Los Angeles Metropolitan Transit Authority in 1962, Glendale lacked a municipal bus system. To remedy this, the Glendale Beeline, operated by Pacific Busing, was launched in December 1984 as a shuttle bus system for downtown Glendale. Fares were 25 cents for general riders and 15 cents for the elderly and disabled. In 1985, a transfer agreement was reached with Southern California Rapid Transit District.
In 1989, the City of Glendale purchased the Glendale Southern Pacific Railroad Depot, and soon thereafter began acquiring surrounding properties with the intent of creating a transportation center to be used by Beeline.
After Pacific Busing was acquired by Laidlaw in 1989, it did not renew its contract to operate the Beeline. A new contract was awarded in 1990 to Medi-Ride, which already operated Glendale's "Dial-A-Ride" paratransit service.
After pausing fare collection in 1990, fares was reintroduced in 1993. The reintroduction of fares allowed Beeline to expand beyond downtown Glendale, adding service to Adventist Health Glendale, Glendale Community College and La Crescenta-Montrose. Restarting fare collection also enabled the city to upgrade its shuttle buses to full-size busses.
Following several safety incidents during Medi-Ride's operation of the Beeline, the Glendale City Council awarded a new, 3-year contract to Mayflower Contract Services in 1993.
From Wikipedia’s article on Glendale Beeline, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.2