The red-painted bus lane heading east toward Boston on Boylston Street near Brookline Village is on its way out after Brookline's Transportation Board voted Wednesday, July 15, to recommend removing most of it.

The board's decision caps an 18-month experiment with the "Gateway East" project, which created dedicated bus lanes in both directions between Station Street and the Boston-Brookline border. The westbound lane, which speeds up MBTA buses carrying commuters from the Longwood Medical Area into Brookline, will stay permanently. But drivers routinely ignored the eastbound lane, forcing buses back into regular traffic and erasing the time savings the lane was supposed to deliver.

"We tried to put ten pounds in a five-pound bag," Transportation Board Chair Brian Kane said at the July 15 meeting. "We gave this a good try. It just doesn't work."

Kane attributed the failure to the road being too narrow. The eastbound stretch already includes a protected bike lane and a right-turn-only lane added for the pilot, leaving little room for a dedicated bus lane that drivers would actually respect.

MBTA project manager Eileen Botti told the board that buses traveling east from High Street to the Boston border experienced a "mixed condition" over that quarter-mile stretch because non-compliant drivers forced them out of the lane before it ended. The data showed time savings where the lane existed, Botti said, but those benefits evaporated once buses reentered traffic.

The lanes serve MBTA Routes 60, 65, and 66, which together carry nearly 15,000 daily riders, according to town data. Route 66 is one of the MBTA's busiest bus routes. The three lines connect neighborhoods to the Longwood Medical Area and the Green Line.

Rob Guptill, Brookline's associate director of transportation and mobility, told the board that traffic volume on Route 9 stayed consistent throughout the pilot. Vehicle speeds slowed, but total travel times remained "near the baseline." Side streets saw "moderate" increases in traffic volume.

Under the recommendation, a small segment of eastbound red paint between Station Street and Boylston Street would remain. The rest would be removed.

The Transportation Board's vote is a recommendation only. The Select Board holds final authority and will take up the matter at a future meeting. If it approves the removal, the MBTA aims to remove the eastbound red paint by the end of 2026, Botti said.