What some have called a “no brainer,” LA Metro’s 13-member governing board soon will have — a voting seat for a dedicated transit user.
On Thursday, July 23, the board unanimously approved a motion by Supervisor Janice Hahn who also sits on the LA Metro board, to add the voice of a non-politician who regularly rides LA Metro to the board’s highest decision-making body.
“A dedicated rider would bring a different kind of expertise on what’s working, what’s frustrating, and how our policies affect the people who rely on this system every day,” said Hahn. “This isn’t about replacing anyone’s voice. It’s about adding a perspective we don’t currently have.”
In a separate vote, the board adopted a motion by Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, chair of the LA Metro board, that will eventually add another transit rider to be chosen out of the city of LA’s four Metro board appointees.
That designation would be made by the city’s mayor after the Los Angeles County’s future chief executive officer is elected by the voters and seated on the L.A. County Board of Supervisors. That would happen sometime after December 2028.
Bass’ motion also considers what will happen in 2032, when the five members of the Board of Supervisors who all serve on LA Metro’s board, expands to nine. Instead of all nine, the motion says the Board and its newly elected CEO would choose which five county representatives would serve on the LA Metro board.
Since Metro was created in 1993, there have been 13 voting members: all five county supervisors, the mayor of L.A., and three mayoral appointees, and four members representing 87 other cities in the county by geographic area (North County/San Fernando Valley, San Gabriel Valley, Southeast County/Long Beach and Southwest Corridor).
Hahn’s proposal goes hand-in-hand with the Ad Hoc Board Composition Committee formed by the now former Whittier City Councilmember and Metro board chair Fernando Dutra. Dutra recently lost his re-election bid and is no longer on the LA Metro board.
The committee has discussed changes to the board structure, make-up and size for the first time in decades. The options included a transit rider, or other members to represent smaller cities, unincorporated county areas or labor.
The committee was prompted by the passage of Measure G in 2024, an LA County charter reform action that eventually grows the Board of Supervisors to nine. The committee discussed whether to allow all nine on the LA Metro board but seemed to shy away from that option.
Any new board structure, including what was approved Thursday, must be sanctioned by the California Legislature. Most likely that will take legislation.
The addition of a Metro rider was supported by surveys and discussions among focus groups conducted by the transit agency’s staff during February and March, Hahn emphasized. Her motion was co-sponsored by other members, including Long Beach Mayor Rex Richardson and Pomona Mayor Tim Sandoval.
It also has the support of many individual riders and rider support groups.
“People closest to the problems are closest to the solutions. Transit riders, especially bus riders, who feel the impact of a late bus on their everyday lives, have an invaluable perspective on mobility in Los Angeles,” said Alfonso Directo Jr., advocacy director for ACT-LA.
Other transit agencies throughout the United States have transit riders serving on their board of directors, helping make decisions that can come from their own lived experience riding mass transit.
Eli Lipmen, executive director of Move LA, mentioned two examples.
Rep. Lateefah Simon, a Democrat from the East Bay, started out as a transit rider and accessibility advocate on the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) board before being elected to Congress. Also, the founder of Ride New Orleans, Fred Neal, Jr., actually chaired the New Orleans RTA board and served for eight years.
“I see great potential in bringing in the experience of riders,” said Danny Hom, of Cerritos, a member of the Metro Gateway Cities Service Council.
Riley O’Brien, with the Westside Cities Council of Governments, fully endorsed adding transit riders to the LA Metro board. “I urge you to approve a dedicated rider seat with full voting power,” he testified by the board.
Former board member and mayor of Santa Monica, Pam O’Connor, said the board did have a transit rider on the board back in 2001. “It is about understanding the transit user’s experience and integrating that into the system,” she said.
Hahn, who continues to ride Metro J Line rapid bus from the South Bay to Union Station and back for monthly Metro meetings, made a pledge to ride the system more often. She said the experiences make her a better director.
Others at the Metro board meeting, including Ernesto Medrano, executive secretary of the Los Angeles/Orange Counties Building and Construction Trades Council, wanted to see a labor representative on the board.
That concept part of a motion offered by L.A. County Supervisor and Metro board member Lindsey Horvath, which did not get support Thursday. Horvath’s failed motion also sought to have the future county-elected CEO automatically seated on the LA Metro Board.
The labor seat will be studied by the Ad Hoc Committee as a possible later addition. Also, the second half of Hahn’s motion, to add a representative from one of the smaller cities in the county, was removed by Hahn from her own motion. Instead, that, too will be studied by the committee.
Besides the two motions, the board makeup will continue to change. Richardson attended his first board meeting Thursday, replacing Dutra.
Ara Najarian, a Glendale City Councilmember who represented the San Fernando Valley and North County cities, will no longer be on the board. He was a member from 2006 to 2026.
Najarian and L.A. County Supervisor Hilda Solis, who is leaving the Board of Supervisors in December and is running for Congress, also will need to be replaced on the LA Metro Board.