The cultural differences between the urban San Fernando Valley and the more suburban, independent San Gabriel Valley may forever keep the two valleys distinct.

However, one thing the valleys have in common is traffic. And a new proposal for an express bus between Pasadena’s Gold Line and Burbank’s Bob Hope Airport that would connect with the San Fernando Valley’s Orange Line may bring the valleys closer together.

Glendale Councilman Ara Najarian, a member of the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority or Metro board, believes now is the time to bridge that gap — at least transit-wise.

“There is a disconnect. The Gold Line (light-rail) serves the San Gabriel Valley. The Orange Line dedicated bus way serves the San Fernando Valley. We are missing a connection between those two,” Najarian said.

On Thursday, a key Metro committee took up the conceptually approved express bus service that would run from the Del Mar or Lake Avenue train station to Bob Hope Airport, with stops at Brand Boulevard in Glendale, the Burbank Media District and the North Hollywood Red Line/Orange Line station.

Riders could then board Metro’s Orange Line, an east-west bus way that runs to Warner Center in Woodland Hills. Once the Gold Line Foothill extension is operating by early next year, riders could get from the west end of the San Fernando Valley to the east end of the San Gabriel Valley without going through downtown Los Angeles and without getting in their cars.

The System Safety, Security and Operations Committee learned for the first time Thursday that it would cost Metro between $5.3 million and $6.1 million a year to operate the new bus line. If Metro were to contract out, the cost would drop to $4 million a year.

Neither option thrilled Metro CEO Art Leahy, who spoke out against the proposal, saying a new line would exacerbate Metro’s looming deficit. Instead, if forced, Leahy would simply ask the Los Angeles Department of Transportation (LADOT) to expand an exiting service, Line 549, that goes from Encino to Pasadena at Walnut Avenue and Fair Oaks Boulevard. He called adding a separate Metro bus line “redundant.”

Najarian strongly disagreed, arguing the cost of a line doesn’t tell the whole story. In this instance, an express bus would be multi-modal, connecting bus, light-rail, commuter rail such as Metrolink and air passengers to and from Bob Hope Airport, formerly called Burbank Airport.

“I assert this is a much greater benefit to this agency and to this region as a whole if we can make this connection,” Najarian told the committee.

In an interview Monday, he said he wanted the line to operate as an express Metro bus every 15 minutes. Right now, LADOT operates its bus every 30 minutes.

Metro must find the funding and figure out the route and timetables, he said. The two-valleys express bus could operate by the end of the year.

His goal, as is that of Los Angeles City Councilman Paul Krekorian, who represents the San Fernando Valley on the Metro board, is to eventually turn the bus line into either light-rail or an extension of the Orange bus way.

The cities of Glendale and Pasadena have put their stamp on a mass transit line connecting the two valleys.

Pasadena Mayor Bill Bogaard even wrote a letter to Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, MTA board chair, asking for his support.

Bogaard emphasized the connection to the airport. “A bus line would be significant. Many people I know in Pasadena use Bob Hope Airport to the preference of LAX,” he said on Monday.

The express bus could come before the Metro board in February or March for a final vote.