City Council
Report
City Council Meeting: June 10, 2025
Agenda Item: 10.A
1 of 7
To: Mayor and City Council
From: Anuj Gupta, Director of Transportation, Mobility (DOT) Subject: Introduction and First Reading of an ordinance amending Santa Monica Municipal Code Section 3.12.675 to allow bicycles and other devices in transit-only lanes
Recommended Action
Staff recommends that the City Council:
1. Adopt a finding of categorical exemption pursuant to Section 15301 of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Guidelines and a finding of no possibility of significant effect pursuant to Section 15061(b)(3) (Common Sense Exemption) of the CEQA Guidelines; and
2. Introduce for first reading the attached ordinance amending Santa Monica Municipal Code Section 3.12.675 to allow bicycles and other devices to operate in transit-only designated lanes, and to permit the Director of the Department of Transportation to administratively designate new transit-only lanes.
Summary
Since adopting the Bike Action Plan in 2011 and the Bike Action Plan Amendment in 2020, the City has made significant progress in building a safe and comfortable citywide cycling network. However, key corridors without bike lanes remain, leaving cyclists without comfortable cycling options on some routes. Currently, the Santa Monica Municipal Code does not allow the operation of bicycles or other devices in transit-only lanes. Providing authority to the Director of the Department of Transportation (DOT) to designate transit-only lanes with supportive bus conditions as permissible for cyclists and shared mobility device users would allow designated corridors to serve as new connections for active transportation. This would also facilitate continuity on crossjurisdictional corridors with the City of Los Angeles, where bicycles and bike-lanepermissible devices are permitted in transit-only lanes. Staff therefore recommends 2 of 7
amending Santa Monica Municipal Code Section 3.12.675 to give the DOT Director the authority to determine which transit-only lanes permit cyclists and other currently permitted bike lane users. Additionally, staff recommends Santa Monica Municipal Code Section 3.12.675 be further amended to give the Director the authority to designate additional transit-only lanes across the City, allowing the City to respond flexibly to changes in transit demand, potentially in response to upcoming regional mega-events.
Background
The City’s Municipal Code currently allows transit-only lanes to be reserved for the exclusive use of buses and other limited mobility services as designated by the Traffic and Parking Engineer and approved by City Council. The existing transit-only facilities in the City are:
• Peak-time only southbound lane on Lincoln Boulevard between Pico Boulevard and Ozone Street (Monday to Friday, 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.);
• Peak-time only northbound lane on Lincoln Boulevard between the south City limit and Grant Street (Monday to Friday, 7 a.m. to 9 a.m.); • All-day eastbound lane on Santa Monica Boulevard between Ocean Avenue and 4 th Court;
• All-day westbound lane on Broadway between Ocean Avenue and 5th Street.
Lincoln Boulevard is a major regional corridor with a manageable gradient compared to adjacent parallel streets, making it a preferred north-south corridor for some bicyclists and other device operators. Likewise, the Santa Monica Boulevard and Broadway transit-only lanes in Downtown Santa Monica offer access to numerous destinations.
Notably, the westbound transit-only lane on the westernmost four blocks of Broadway connects the existing protected bikeway on Ocean Avenue with the protected bikeway under development along Broadway. The role of western Broadway as a bike network connector has long been recognized, with the corridor marked as a bikeway in both the City’s 2011 Bike Action Plan and the 2020 Bike Action Plan Amendment. The appendix of the Bike Action Plan explicitly calls for the transit-only lane to permit bicyclists, facilitating this bike network connection.
Discussion
3 of 7
Staff believe giving cyclists and other device operators formal permission to ride in transit-only lanes can enhance safety and riding comfort, as the lanes have lower traffic volumes, are used by trained transit vehicle operators, and afford easier turning movements. Owing to these preferable travel conditions, staff have observed cyclists and other device operators already using the transit-only lanes, particularly on Broadway.
Despite the preferable cycling and other device conditions in many transit-only lanes, their use by cyclists and other device operators is currently prohibited in Santa Monica.
While the California Vehicle Code directs cyclists to ride “as close as practicable” to the right-hand curb (CVC section 21202a), under the current text of SMMC 3.12.675, cyclists, as well as other device operators who are currently permitted (and in the case of e-scooters legally required) to use the City’s Class II bikeways are still required to ride to the left of transit lanes. This can expose cyclists and other bike-lane-compatible device users to faster and more voluminous traffic, and make negotiating turns more challenging. For example, under current regulations, bike and e-scooter riders are required to use the center travel lane on westbound Broadway as it connects to Ocean Avenue, exposing them to heavy mixed traffic and making turns northbound onto Ocean protected bikeway more cumbersome.
The proposed ordinance amendment to allow the DOT Director to designate bikeinclusive transit-only lanes would help prevent cyclists and other device operators from being subject to citation for traveling in a lane with a higher degree of riding comfort and practicality. Permitting cycling and other bike-lane-compatible device usage in these more comfortable transit-only lanes has been shown to generate real safety improvements, as demonstrated by a trial completed in the City of Los Angeles. The City of Los Angeles implemented new shared bus-bike lanes on Wilshire and Sunset Boulevards in 2015 and, in conjunction with LA Metro and the consultant Fehr & Peers, studied the impact over a two-year period. Crashes involving cyclists decreased by 10% and 30%, respectively, despite the number of cyclists increasing on both corridors.
Santa Monica presents broadly favorable conditions for permitting cyclists and other device operators in transit-only lanes. The National Association of City Transportation 4 of 7
Officials (NACTO) has created general guidelines for the installation of shared bus-bike lanes. They recommend that shared bus-bike lanes provide the following features:
• Operating speeds of 20 mph or less (to reduce conflicts from overtaking maneuvers);
• Transit headways of 4 minutes or longer (i.e. 15 buses per hour or fewer, again to reduce conflicts between cyclists and buses); and
• Travel lanes between 10 and 12 feet wide.
Table 1 shows how each of the five current transit-only lanes in Santa Monica measure with respect to these guidelines. The first numeric column gives stop-to-stop median bus speeds, which per NACTO guidance include time spent dwelling at stops and are calculated from both BBB and Metro operational data. All transit-only lanes in Santa Monica fall well under the recommended 20 mph upper limit. The next column gives the maximum number of buses per hour in each lane. These figures derive from bus schedule calculations, along with field verifications by City staff. Here, four of the five transit-only lane segments meet the NACTO guideline maximum of 15 buses per hour.
The remaining fifth segment represents a single half block of eastbound Santa Monica Boulevard, between 4th Street and 4th Court.
Table 1. Santa Monica Transit-Only Lanes in Relation to NACTO Guidance Bus Lane Highest stop-tostop median
bus speeds
(mph)
Maximum
number of
buses per
hour
Meets NACTO
guidance
Lincoln Blvd, southbound,
b/n Pico Blvd. and Ozone
St.
13 7 Yes
Lincoln Blvd, northbound,
b/n Grant St. and south
City limit
16 8 Yes
Broadway, westbound b/n 16 12 Yes
5 of 7
Ocean Ave. and 5th St.
Santa Monica Blvd,
eastbound, b/n 4th St. and
4 th Ct.
11 32 No
Santa Monica Blvd,
eastbound, b/n Ocean
Ave. and 4th St.
11 15 Yes
Owing to both its particularly important place in the City’s bike network, as well as its NACTO-compatible bus speeds and frequencies, the DOT Director would plan on initially designating the existing transit-only lane on westbound Broadway as inclusive of cyclists. This initial designation would immediately help fulfill the City’s formal bike network plans, while providing City staff with the opportunity to directly observe the functioning of shared bus-bike lanes.
It is important to note, however, that the remainder of existing transit-only lanes also hold the potential to improve the City’s mobility networks by allowing cyclists and other device operators in the future following thorough staff review. Both the Lincoln Blvd. lanes and the western portion of the Santa Monica Blvd. lane fall within NACTO guidelines. And while the easternmost half-block of Santa Monica Blvd. exceeds NACTO-recommended bus frequency when BBB and LA Metro routes are jointly considered, the NACTO guidelines serve as best-practices, and do not preclude successful implementation of shared bus-bike lanes. Notably, the successful and safetyenhancing implementations in City of Los Angeles portions of Sunset and Wilshire Boulevards (referenced above) occurred on corridors with similarly high bus frequencies. In fact, the Fehr & Peers report evaluating these implementations referred to a portion of the Wilshire corridor as “most likely the single busiest transit corridor in the county.”
In preparing this recommendation, DOT’s Mobility Division staff have consulted with various internal City stakeholders, including Big Blue Bus, Santa Monica Police Department, and City Attorney’s Office. BBB Motor Coach Operators have already 6 of 7
received training on and have experience with shared bus-bike lanes, as such lanes already exist within BBB’s service area in the City of Los Angeles and in Culver City.
If the ordinance amendment permitting designation of cyclist-inclusive transit-only lanes in the City is approved, DOT staff would develop additional training for BBB Motor Coach Operators to better promote safety for cyclists and other device operators and the smooth operation of BBB vehicles. This training would be complemented by safety outreach to local cyclists, for example by instructing Motor Coach Operators to not overtake cyclists and other operators within a transit-only lane and likewise instructing cyclists to not attempt to overtake stopped buses within such lanes. Concerns were raised about bus headways and about cyclist safety in shared lanes, particularly on corridors with higher transit travel speeds and frequencies. In planning for an initial shared bus-bike designation on the Broadway transit-only lane, staff would seek to add to existing literature on the safety benefits of shared bus-bike lanes by directly observing and evaluating their performance on a controlled and amenable corridor that would offer immediate benefits to the City’s bike connectivity.
If this ordinance amendment is approved, the DOT Director would plan on designating the westbound transit-only lane on Broadway, from 5th St. to Ocean Ave., as inclusive of cyclists and other designated active transportation users. The Mobility Division is evaluating the exact signage and striping changes required for this designation. Staff would plan to coordinate full implementation of the Broadway designation as soon as practicable, and ahead of the completion of the Broadway protected bike lane project.
Full implementation would consist of the DOT Director’s designation, the aforementioned signage and striping, Motor Coach Operator training, and cyclist education and outreach. Similar steps would be taken ahead of any subsequent designation of cyclist permission in additional transit-only lanes.
Finally, the recommended ordinance amendment also includes language to permit the DOT Director to designate additional Transit-Only lanes (with or without cyclist inclusion) as needed, and without hardcoding Transit-Only corridors in the Santa Monica Municipal Code. This additional flexibility would aid the City in swiftly responding to changes in transit demand, specifically as may arise as a result of upcoming regional mega-events.
Environmental Review
7 of 7
The ordinance amendment to allow bicyclists in transit lanes is categorically exempt from CEQA under Section 15301. Section 15301 of the CEQA State Guidelines provides Class 1 (existing facilities) exemption for projects that consist of the operation, repair, maintenance, leasing, licensing, permitting, or minor alteration of existing public or private structures, facilities, mechanical equipment, or topographical features, involving negligible or no expansion of the existing or former use. Additionally, the amendment is exempt under CEQA Guidelines Section 15061(b)(3), which states that CEQA does not apply “where it can be seen with certainty that there is no possibility that the activity in question may have a significant effect on the environment.” The proposed ordinance amendment to change the definition of transit-only lanes to permit bicyclists and other active transportation users would not result in a physical effect on the environment nor expand existing lanes.
Financial Impacts and Budget Actions
There are no immediate financial impacts to the implementation of shared bus-bike lanes. However, staff anticipates costs associated with the installation of bike-bus signage, pavement markings, and wayfinding signage, which will be funded out of the DOT Mobility Division’s operating budget.
Prepared By: Trevor Thomas, Senior Transportation Planner Approved Forwarded to Council
Attachments:
A. Buses Bikes and Scooters in Transit Only Lanes Ordinance Amendment 6-10- 2025 hvt
B. Written Comments
C. PowerPoint Presentation