It used to take senior Emmanuella Akinleye about 30 minutes to get to school on the Metro G Line but since the Van Nuys Station closed for construction a year ago, that trip takes closer to an hour, and she has been late to the first period more than once.
The G Line (Orange Line) Station in Van Nuys has been closed over a year for an improvement project that will add grade-separated bridges over major streets along the busway, according to Metro.
The 18-mile G Line runs from North Hollywood to Chatsworth and has the highest ridership of any bus route in the San Fernando Valley. The construction project is expected to shorten bus travel times by about 12 minutes and add capacity for 10,000 more riders when it is completed in late 2027. In the meantime, the closure has rerouted buses, shut down parking access and added as much as half an hour to the daily commutes of students who depend on the line.
“The shutdown significantly disrupted my daily commute while also leading to increased traffic congestion and delays, not to mention the bus delays,” Akinleye said.
The closure has also affected drivers. Access to the G Line Sepulveda parking lot from Sepulveda Boulevard is closed, and drivers must use entrances at Haskell Avenue or Erwin Street instead, according to Metro.
G Line buses have been rerouted along Oxnard Street between Sepulveda Boulevard and Woodman Avenue, with a temporary stop at Oxnard Street and Van Nuys Boulevard, according to Metro.
Akinleye said the detour has not been a clean substitute.
“I’ve been using the detour on Van Nuys and Oxnard, but it hasn’t been reliable since its route often doesn’t align with my destination,” she said.
The reroute has also stretched her travel time.
“Depending on the alternative route, it adds about 20 to 30 minutes to my commute,” she said. “There have been multiple times where I was late to class, especially if the replacement bus service is slow or crowded.”
The construction is scheduled to last until late last year, which means Akinleye will have graduated before the new station opens. For the students who come after her, she said, she hopes the finished G Line is worth the wait.
This article originally appeared in the Early Spring 2026 print edition.
