Hollywood Tour Buses To Be Banned From Using Certain Streets Under New Ordinance

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) – Local tour bus operators accustomed to taking their customers into steep and winding Hollywood neighborhoods with the hopes of catching glimpses of the stars could soon find themselves barred from doing so.

The Los Angeles City Council Tuesday unanimously passed a motion which directs the L.A. Department of Transportation (LADOT) to dictate which roads are unsafe for tour buses to use.

"For far too long, unscrupulous tour bus operators have been putting their passengers and the public at risk by driving up narrow hillside roads that weren't built for heavy vehicles, making illegal U-turns, and allowing passengers to hop on and off behind blind curves," said Councilman David Ryu in a statement.

Ryu, whose district includes the Hollywood Hills, first proposed the ordinance back in September 2017. The motion was precipitated by the passage of California Assembly Bill 25 that same month, which gave cities the right to regulate which streets tour buses can use and allows them to ban the use of loudspeakers or public address systems.

"To be honest, we're somewhat of a nuisance, but we're not the main nuisance," one tour bus driver told CBS2 Tuesday from inside his bus. "There's a lot of money being made off of Hollywood, and showing this, and Mulholland Drive is a very, very famous street in L.A."

In November of 2017, the L.A. City Council approved an ordinance which requires tour buses to replace loudspeakers with headphones.

The new law directs LADOT to "establish rules, policies, and procedures to identify streets, street segments, or routes which for safety reasons shall be restricted or limited from use by a tour bus."

The ordinance, which awaits Mayor Eric Garcetti's signature, will take effect in April.