Metro Convenes Public Meetings in Pasadena This Week to Discuss Bus Rapid Transit Line

Concerned about upcoming transportation changes that will affect Pasadena? Then join Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transit Authority as it hosts workshops to learn your vision of how the proposed Bus Rapid Transit could operate within Pasadena.

By way of refresher, Metro’s Bus Rapid Transit, known as the BRT, is a planned bus route connecting North Hollywood with Pasadena City College, which has been, like all transit projects, the subject of considerable teeth gnashing.

At one point Metro staff seemed to favor a route with a dedicated lane along Colorado Boulevard; an idea deemed so problematic by some that Pasadena Mayor Terry Tornek made a special trip to a Metro board meeting for the purpose of expressing his profound consternation..

The dedicated bus lanes were eliminated from the proposed BRT Route between Pasadena and North Hollywood as approved by the Metro Board on May 23.

Metro Communications Manager Brian Haas said last week the proposal for a dedicated bus lane down Colorado Boulevard is dead.

Haas said this week’s workshops will discuss route options, where they exist, and run attendees through street building and configuration design exercises.

“Currently, the options being discussed in Pasadena remain the same as before,” he said in an email. “These are the ‘couplet’ option along with the straight shot down Colorado Boulevard.”

The only currently proposed configuration, Haas stated, is a section east of the Gold Line in Pasadena, “which is being proposed as mixed flow and not a dedicated bus lane. The rest of the project does not have a proposed configuration,” said Haas.

A diagram of the BRT line from Metro features a three-pronged route through Pasadena along Union, Colorado, and Green Street, with a station at Memorial Park, with 5 possible options running through Pasadena. The plan also notes that “design options may be reduced after public scoping.”

Details on specific road configurations will be taken up later, he stated, and is part of what Metro is asking workshop attendees to consider.

“The Colorado Boulevard option, along with a freeway option on the 134 are what are being studied further as we go forward,” said Haas in reference to future direction.

Workshop 1 will be held at Pasadena City College, Nov. 6 from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m., at 1570 East Colorado Boulevard in the Creveling Lounge. Workshop 2 is later in the day from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., at the same location.

The options to be considered — H and I –can be viewed on the map linked to here: http://media.metro.net/projects_studies/brt/images/map_noho_pas_project_2019-09.pdf.