In the midst of construction, when Blue Line passengers complained that a replacement bus ferrying passengers to the next open station was too darn slow, Metro teamed with Los Angeles to create a temporary, bus-only lane on Flower Street during peak afternoon hours to speed travel.

Complaints dissipated. Bus speeds jumped. Frequencies accelerated to 60 bus trips per hour. Soon, Metro was calling it a “pilot project” and looking into more bus-only transit lanes.

But there’s trouble in bus-lane paradise.

Two official bus rapid transit proposals, which usually reserve exclusive lanes for a rapid bus, attracted loud protests. Meetings turned into shouting matches as angry, single-car commuters objected to their multipurpose lanes being commandeered by Metro for buses only.

Objections rained down during a meeting about the North San Fernando Valley rapid bus proposal, otherwise known as a BRT, that would run from Cal State Northridge and Chatsworth to North Hollywood Red and Orange Line Station.

Likewise, last month, at a meeting in Eagle Rock, folks threatened to stop the North Hollywood-to-Pasadena BRT in court. Many in attendance said they didn’t want bus-only lanes on their 2-plus mile section of Colorado Boulevard, just west of Pasadena.

They didn’t like the option that would run the BRT down the center of the street, eliminating the picturesque grassy median. Some business owners were concerned about parking on Colorado disappearing.

While admitting there’s been pushback, Metro has taken a calming approach. With five scoping meetings planned for the next two weeks regarding the NoHo-to-Pasadena BRT, Metro wants to hear from more than just the naysayers.

Could this noise over the planned 18-mile BRT — connecting the San Fernando and San Gabriel valleys going east-west between the North Hollywood Red and Orange Line Station and Pasadena City College with stops in downtown Burbank, Glendale, Eagle Rock and the Gold Line Memorial Park Station in Old Pasadena — be short-lived?

“At times, there is opposition to dedicated bus lanes before they are put in. Then, when you pull the bus out of the regular traffic so that people in cars aren’t stopped behind the buses, then people are no longer opposed,” Brian Haas, Metro spokesman, said during an interview Friday.

The project, estimated to cost between $271 million to $429 million, depending on the final route, would be the first nonfreeway link between the two valleys. With dedicated lanes and traffic signal priority, Metro estimates it would carry 23,000-30,000 riders per day in a corridor used mostly by single-car drivers. East of Old Pasadena, the bus would travel in general traffic lanes to Pasadena City College.

The list of amenities for BRTs include traffic signals favoring buses; fares collected off the bus, dedicated bus lanes and higher quality bus stops resembling train stations but smaller. A BRT would move quicker than a regular bus and make fewer stops.

This one would take 65 minutes end to end, according to Metro. The idea is to stop at malls, workplaces and streets near where people live and work to accommodate more riders, instead of running along the 134 Freeway.

While Haas said Metro has not yet determined if the mostly street-level design chosen by the Metro Governing Board in May will include exclusive bus lanes, that’s generally the idea. “While that has not yet been determined, there is a good case to be made for bus-only lanes,” Haas said.

With the positive social media buzz from the Flower Street Lane, Metro has begun looking into a third BRT that would run 12 miles along Vermont Avenue in Los Angeles from Hollywood Boulevard to 120th Street, he said.

Haas quietly pointed out that the Eagle Rock Neighborhood Council signed off on the BRT on Colorado Boulevard two years ago. Also, Metro cannot “steal” traffic lanes, he said. Any lane converting from general purpose to dedicated bus lane must be approved by the local city, he said.

Folks from the anti-BRT group say the general public was not informed about the project. The www.eaglerock411.com website calls it a “BRT road diet” that would clog their boulevard and even gentrify the neighborhood with high-rise condos. So far, 555 people have signed an online petition against the project.

There’s no doubt the eaglerock411 group as well as pro-transit/environmental groups will be at the next five scoping meetings of the North Hollywood-to-Pasadena BRT, which are being held to get comments in advance of a full environmental review. They will take place as follows:

Tuesday, July 9: 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., Lankershim Arts Center, 5108 Lankershim Blvd., North Hollywood

Wednesday, July 10: 6 to 8 p.m., Pasadena Senior Center, 85 E. Holly St., Pasadena

Saturday, July 13: 1 to 3 p.m., Eagle Rock Plaza, 2700 Colorado Blvd., Suite 236, Eagle Rock

Monday, July 15: 6 to 8 p.m., Buena Vista Library, 300 N. Buena Vista St., Burbank

Wednesday, July 17: 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., Glendale Downtown Central Library, 222 E. Harvard St., Glendale

Metro is planning on beginning construction of the project in the summer of 2022 and opening the line in summer 2024.