Metro moves forward on Vermont Avenue transit project — without bike lanes

The Metro Board on Thursday unanimously voted to approve the configuration of the Vermont Transit Corridor bus project — without the bike lanes that street safety advocates say L.A. city voted for.

The Vermont Transit Corridor bus project will add dedicated side-running bus lanes and 13 stations along a more than 12-mile-long stretch of the busy and unsafe corridor. It’s slated to be up and running by the 2028 summer Olympic and Paralympic Games.

But critics say the project ignores Measure HLA, which calls for widespread safety upgrades for pedestrians and bicyclists to be part of road improvement projects throughout the city.

We laid out the disagreement in more detail in our story yesterday, which you can read here.

Streets for All, the group that spearheaded Measure HLA, has for months advocated for the project including bike lanes that are specified for Vermont Avenue in the city of L.A.’s Mobility Plan 2035. Earlier this week, it had asked Metro Board CEO Stephanie Wiggins to delay the vote so there would be more time to find a resolution.

Founder and CEO of Streets for All, Michael Schneider, told LAist in a statement that Metro ignored “the law and will of the voters” by voting to move forward with the design of the project without bike lanes.

“We are discussing next steps now to force the City of Los Angeles and Metro to comply with the rule of law, and implement best practices for keeping people outside of cars safe,” Schneider said.

The disagreement here isn’t about the bus lanes themselves — Schneider and other transportation advocates in L.A. agree that improvements to transit on the corridor are needed.

But the question is whether Metro, a countywide transportation agency, is required to comply with Measure HLA, a city-level initiative.

Metro doesn’t think so, and it has threatened legal action if it is forced to comply.

For now, Metro staff will continue design on the Vermont Transit Corridor project without bike lanes and is aiming to have the project environmentally cleared by the summer.

Mayor Karen Bass, a member of the Metro Board, was not present at Thursday's vote because she was called into federal court in downtown L.A. for a hearing on problems with tracking homeless spending.

LAist will keep you updated when Streets for All announces next steps.

Reach out to LAist

I want to know what you think about this controversy, your experiences navigating Vermont Avenue, which has a high rate of pedestrian and cyclist collisions, or anything you think LAist’s new transportation reporter should know. Email me at kharjai@scpr.org with your thoughts.