11mo ago

Los Angeles wants a ‘no-car’ Olympics in 2028. Is it possible?

Karen Bass, the mayor, pledged to make the Games car-free, but the sprawling city’s public transit falls far behind that of previous host cities

I was a bit pessimistic about this being possible, but to see that we did this in the 1984 Olympics without any light rail is pretty amazing to hear.

19 comments

if they actually try, im ok with that
- How about they start with no car Tuesdays and work up to an Olympics
  
  I think a no car day would get more push back than the Olympics being no car. The Olympics is a temporary event, No car day would be forever. Not that I would hate it. Another thing too is that there's going to be a lot of resource put into ensuring the Olympics goes smoothly, like additional buses brought in from all over SoCal. I guess the same can be done for a no car day, but again, i feel there needs to be huge political support for it and I don't think there is. Even 1 day a month would be a nice stepping stone. Ciclavia is sort of like that, but its so concentrated that it feels more like a bike festival more so than leaps to changing people's views of transit (though I understand that the point of Ciclavia is to encourage more walking/biking and less cars).

They can want it. I don't think it's a bad idea.
American automakers though? They'll either break everyone working on this initiative or bribe the IOC enough to break old bribe records.
Heck, Elon Musk is going to be immensely annoying about this very thing and will be annoying enough.
Doesn't mean they shouldn't try, but they need to accept that sheer tidal wave of pushback coming their way.
- I feel like the fact that its even being discussed in this way is a huge step forward for LA. Even if we don't make it, whatever improvements would be greatly appreciated.

Yeah I'm less worried about LA's transportation nightmare and more about what happens if a standard California wildfire summer sends LA air quality into hazardous levels for the entire event
- In Paris athletes got sick after swimming in the seine. In LA they will just have to breathe. Updates people, updates!

Los angelas wants this? Aren't they one of the most car centric cities in the US? I'm shocked tbh
- Yes. We've had a history of being car centric, but in the last 20 years we've been pushing public transit a lot more. I think we have one of the largest light rail systems in the world actually. I believe a Texas city is now on top for most car centric
  
  Lmao yeah houston is a shithole

Most bus stops here don't even have shade cover, city hall treats bus riders as 2nd class citizens. Nobody feels safe on the metro.
- I agree that bus riders are treated as 2nd class citizens. I don't know about not feeling safe taking the metro. There's been some issues, but I usually take the metro and feel safe. Worst that I have seen are people with mental illness yelling (not even at people, just yelling at imaginary people). Things could be better, but Metro I don't think has the tools to address the root cause of the issues with taking metro: expensive housing and lack of sufficient medical assistance to treat the mentally ill.
  
  Some people don't feel safe around the poors

19 comments