Metro sues Burbank over bus-only lanes for rapid transit project

Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority filed a lawsuit against Burbank on Wednesday after the city refused to accept dedicated bus-only lanes on Olive Avenue — the backbone of a proposed 19-mile rapid transit corridor linking North Hollywood to Pasadena, according to ABC7 Los Angeles.

The suit marks a turning point in a standoff stretching back to at least 2020, pitting regional transit ambitions against local fears over traffic, small businesses and the density pressures a new transit spine could unleash along the Southern California corridor.

Metro's planned Bus Rapid Transit project would convert two of four lanes on Olive Avenue to bus-only use, with new stations and bus signal priority technology added along the 19-mile route running from North Hollywood through Glendale and Eagle Rock to Pasadena.

The agency projects the line would serve 30,000 daily riders — roughly the crowd of two sold-out Hollywood Bowl concerts — moving 44 percent faster than current bus service. "The project delivers improvements such as dedicated bus lanes, bus signal priority, and new stations that will result in bus service between NoHo and Pasadena that rivals the speed, capacity, and comfort of the best rail lines," Metro said in a statement, according to ABC7 Los Angeles.

Burbank City Council has insisted on mixed-flow lanes rather than bus-exclusive corridors. Vice Mayor Zizette Mullins said at a council meeting Wednesday that Metro has stonewalled the city's outreach for years. "They refuse to negotiate with us. They refuse to acknowledge that we've given them that letter since 2020," Mullins said, according to ABC7.

Restaurant and retail owners along the corridor fear the lane changes would cut off customers who depend on drive-up access. "People make decisions about where they visit, where they put their business, where they're going to go have coffee, where they're going to buy a doughnut, get their medicine, based upon accessibility," said Karen Ross, owner of Tallyrand restaurant.

A second front deepened local resistance: California Senate Bill 79, which could allow 6- to 7-story apartment buildings along the transit route. David Donahue, president of Vision Burbank, raised the financial stakes. "The potential cost of infrastructure upgrades could be $400 million to $1 billion, and the residents and businesses would be on the hook for the majority of that," Donahue said, ABC7 Los Angeles reported.

With the dispute now in court, a resolution timeline for the 19-mile North Hollywood to Pasadena corridor — one of the Los Angeles region's most contested transit routes — remains unclear.