By Jorge Casuso
June 11, 2025 -- The City Council late Tuesday night voted to slowly roll out a program that allows bicycles and other mobility devices to use stretches of five major bus-only lanes.
In a 5 to 2 vote, the Council approved Transportation staff's recommendation that the program kick in with the westbound bus-only lane on Broadway from 5th Street to Ocean Avenue, where signage and markings will be installed.
If the pilot program proves successful, four other stretches of bus-only lanes would follow -- two other short stretches Downtown and two longer stretches on Lincoln Boulevard. No time line has been set.
Trevor Thomas, senior transportation planner with the department, told the Council the slow rollout "allows us to get our feet wet in how we implement this."
An effort by Councilmember Jesse Zwick to quickly roll out the program on all five designated bus lanes proposed by staff failed by one vote.
"I don't see any compelling reason not to do that," Zwick said. "Just to bring this ordinance took longer than a year when other places have been doing it for a long time."
Zwick argued there is no need to study the impacts on the Broadway stretch when a similar program in Los Angeles found that accidents were reduced.
"You gave a lot of evidence for other cities doing this and all the positive effects of doing this," he told Thomas. "Why are we restricting this (to Broadway) when we could do it on all of our bus lanes?"
Transportation Department Director Anuj Gupta noted the program will require the coordination of the Police Department, City Attorney's office and Big Blue Bus.
"Lincoln is a much higher speed corridor, so the idea was to start with a more discreet small portion" on Broadway, Gupta said. "Lincoln is kind of our flagship, peak-hour bus only lane in the City."
Other bus lanes could be added in the future, said Gupta, who under the ordinance has the authority to designate bus-only lanes for bicycle use that meet the criteria.
Under general guidelines created by the National Association of City Transportation Officials, bicyclists can operate at speeds of up to 20 mph.
Travel lanes will be between 10 and 12 feet wide, and no more than 15 buses will be allowed to use the lanes per hour, according to staff.
Four of the five proposed stretches, including Broadway, meet the guidelines -- Lincoln southbound between Pico Boulevard and Ozone Street and northbound between Grant Street and the Venice border, and Santa Monica Boulevard eastbound between Ocean Avenue and Fourth Street.
The remaining segment is a single half block of eastbound Santa Monica Boulevard, between 4th Street and 4th Court.
The Department will monitor the impacts of the program on Broadway by tracking bicycle use, the number of accidents and the comfort level of bus drivers, some of whom already drive in LA bus lanes that allow bikes, staff said.
A friendly amendment by Councilmember Natalya Zernitskaya will add personally owned mobility devices to the proposed ordinance that only allowed shared devices that are rented.
Zernitskaya joined Zwick in casting the two dissenting votes. "I believe we should do this on all bus lanes for consistency across the city," she said.
Zwick also explained his vote. "The physics in Santa Monica are the same as in LA," he said. "We already know it's safe. We don't have to study this."
