Metro Breaks Ground on North Hollywood to Pasadena Bus Rapid Transit Line
Longtime Metro Boardmember and Glendale City Councilmember Ara Najarian describes the North Hollywood to Pasadena Bus Rapid Transit Line as a “missing link” bringing high quality bus service to a “transit desert.” Najarian has long championed this project.
“For years, decades, elected officials have tried to solve the problem of connecting these two great valleys – the San Gabriel Valley, the San Fernando Valley and we finally came up with a plan to make it work.”
Najarian delivered these remarks yesterday at the project’s groundbreaking ceremonies at Glendale City Hall. While it’s promising that the delayed bus line project is finally under construction, it still faces some complications from NIMBY opponents.
The NoHo-Pasadena BRT project is a 19-mile half-billion dollar project featuring 22 new BRT stations spanning four cities: Burbank, Glendale, Pasadena, and the L.A. City neighborhoods of Eagle Rock and North Hollywood. Roughly half the route will run on new bus-only lanes.
Metro already delayed the Valley to Valley BRT project due to NIMBY opposition, primarily in Eagle Rock, Burbank, and Glendale. The line was funded in 2016 via Metro’s Measure M sales tax, which programmed $266 million toward an anticipated 2020-23 groundbreaking and a 2022-25 opening.
In December 2024, Metro got some early project construction (“preconstruction”) underway. To open the line before the 2028 Olympics, Metro needs full construction underway basically right now. Today, the Metro board will vote on approving the overall $429 million project budget [staff report].
Prioritizing predominantly low-income transit riders in these relatively well-off areas continues to draw the ire of critics. At yesterday’s groundbreaking, Glendale Mayor Ardy Kassakhian spoke at length against state law facilitating housing production near high quality transit stops (SB 79) which he characterized as his city “surrendering our local planning authority.” Kassakhian stated he supports this BRT, “however” he urged that “this transportation project does not become a vehicle through which the state of California imposes land use mandates that were never part of [Glendale’s] original local understandings.”
Similar project criticism is worse in neighboring Burbank, where the city has refused to issue construction permits and seeks to water down approved plans for bus priority lanes. Metro is suing Burbank to force the city to permit BRT construction.
Najarian poked fun at neighboring Burbank, opening his remarks thanking Glendale city staff for making the groundbreaking happen on short notice. “That’s the way we do things in Glendale. You submit plans and we approve the permits very quickly.”
Nonetheless, Angelenos will soon see BRT station construction along several prominent arterials, including Glenoaks Boulevard, Vineland Avenue, Central Avenue, and Colorado Street/Boulevard. The new BRT line will likely open to the public in early 2028.
Streetsblog’s San Gabriel Valley coverage is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the A Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.” Sign-up for our SGV Connect Newsletter, coming to your inbox on Fridays!
Read More:
Streetsblog has migrated to a new comment system. New commenters can register directly in the comments section of any article. Returning commenters: your previous comments and display name have been preserved, but you'll need to reclaim your account by clicking "Forgot your password?" on the sign-in form, entering your email, and following the verification link to set a new password — this is required because passwords could not be carried over during the migration. For questions, contact tips@streetsblog.org.
