‘NoHo to BoHo’ bus route takes off

The BurbankBus began all-day service this week between the North Hollywood Metro Station and Bob Hope Airport — or “NoHo to BoHo,” as the airport’s executive director has called it in the past.

The route had been operating in the mornings and evenings to connect San Fernando Valley’s only commercial airport to the station for the Red Line subway and Orange Line bus route, and thereby to downtown Los Angeles and Warner Center. However, Monday marked the beginning of service that runs from 5:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m.

Buses are scheduled to run every 15 minutes during morning and evening commute times, every 20 minutes during midday hours — 9:35 a.m. to 2:15 p.m. — and every 45 minutes after 7 p.m.

The Burbank City Council directed staff earlier this month to begin the all-day service and also approved an agreement that allowed BurbankBus to pick up and drop off passengers inside the airport’s new transportation center.

The expanded service is being paid for by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority with Measure R funds, and is part of efforts to lessen the traffic impacts caused by construction projects on the Golden State (5) Freeway.

David Kriske, Burbank’s deputy city planner, told council members it will cost an estimated $362,000 a year at current rates, meaning the Measure R funds would provide for roughly four years of service. At the end of that “trial period,” he said, the city could examine ridership and petition Metro to continue to provide funds for the all-day service.

The expansion could also serve to show whether there is enough rider demand to extend the Metro Orange Line route to Bob Hope Airport, Kriske said.

The BurbankBus route has been renamed the NoHo-Airport route and has been colored orange on maps and brochures. Kriske said it would “reinforce the service as pretty much an extension of the Orange Line.”

Mark Hardyment, the airport’s director of government and environmental affairs, said the bus service expansion was a welcome development for the airport authority, which had been providing free shuttle service between North Hollywood and the airport for almost five years. That service will continue on weekends and holidays when the BurbankBus does not run, Hardyment said.

Council members also approved a month-to-month extension of Burbank’s contract with bus operator MV Transportation Inc. for up to six months beyond the current July 31 termination date, while city officials work to begin to solicit proposals for a new operating contract.

Council member David Gordon was the only dissenting vote, citing qualms about the city’s agreement with the airport on the use of the transportation center, which required the city to waive any claims against the airport regarding the facility’s design, construction or condition.

“I support everything here ... but because of the terms of that contract, I’m not going to support it,” he said.