Mayor Karen Bass Introduces Ambitious Public Transit Plan for LA Olympics
LA’s mayor plans a “car-free” Olympics for its next hosting.
According to Fox News, Bass wants to restrict vehicle access to any venue that hosts a sporting event over the two-week Olympic period.
“A no-car Games,” Bass said Saturday.
Under the plan, attendees will be required to use public transportation. Bass revealed the city’s efforts to expand its public transportation system, which could allow for a car-free Olympics.
Since Los Angeles’ current transit system is considerably less robust than other major U.S. cities, the mayor noted that the city intends to borrow more than 3,000 buses from other cities across the country.
“That’s a feat in Los Angeles. We’ve always been in love with our cars,” Bass said during a news conference in Paris. “But we’re already working to ensure we can build a greener Los Angeles.”
Bass also said creating a strategic partnership with some of the city’s largest employers will be critical when it comes to LA’s ability to mitigate traffic jams.
“The way it should work is to meet with the city’s major employers and talk about staggering work hours, which is something that was done 40 years ago, when we had no tech, no cellphones, no personal computers,” she said. “There might be some employers that we would say, ‘Could you be remote for 17 days?’”