LA County Supervisor Janice Hahn on Monday, Sept. 9, 2024. (Photo by Raphael Richardson, Contributing Photographer)
LA Metro has pledged to make the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic games car-free. But exactly how will they accomplish that in a city known for its infamous gridlock and love for the automobile?
That’s what Metro board chair and Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn wants to know.
Hahn’s motion on transit preparations for the 2028 Games, presented to the board on Thursday, Sept. 26, was postponed a month. Instead, it will be heard before Metro’s Ad Hoc 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games Committee on Oct. 23.
Hahn will be asking the transit agency staff to move the needle on public transportation plans known as “enhanced service” for the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games, including creation of well thought-out plans on coordination with other transit agencies, as well as the federal government. She’s also asking how much it will cost to move hundreds of thousands spectators to and from Olympic events when the games come to Southern California in less than four years.
Hahn, who chairs the Metro Olympics committee, will ask staff at the October meeting how many bus operators will be needed to drive the 4,000 rented buses the agency intends to use during the Olympics and how to coordinate with other bus agencies in Southern California, including Metrolink, the six-county passenger rail service.
Hahn, along with fellow Metro board members, are asking the federal government to help with transportation needs.
“The Olympics are highlighting the United States of America, in Los Angeles,” she said. “And we need help from our federal government.”
The Los Angeles Olympics will be held July 14-30 in 2028, the LA28 committee announced in July 2022. On Sept. 26, 2024, LA Metro’s Chair Janice Hahn introduced a motion asking for a plan to make the Olympics “car-free.” The motion was postponed and instead will be discussed in committee on Oct. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel)
Last month, Karen Bass, Los Angeles Mayor and Metro board member, said public transportation will be the only way to access 800-plus events spread across 80 venues in Southern California during both events. The 2028 LA Olympic games run from July 14, 2028 to July 30, 2028. The Paralympic Games run from Aug. 15 to Aug. 27.
LA Metro plans to borrow 4,000 buses from transit agencies across the country to augment its bus system, which contains more than 2,100 buses. Bass, after receiving the Olympic flag last month in Paris, the site of the most recent summer Olympics, said the city of L.A. and LA Metro will convince major employers to keep commuters off the roads by permitting them to work remotely during the Games.
“Part of having a no-car Olympics means getting people not to drive,” she told the press in August.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass receives the Olympic flag during the closing ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Saint-Denis on Sunday, August 11, 2024. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Orange County Register/ SCNG)
On Thursday, Bass said the representatives of the mayor of Paris will be in Los Angeles in mid-October. “So we can grab any lessons learned from them.”
Third District Supervisor and Metro Board member Lindsey Horvath said Metro must focus on coordination with other governmental entities. “There is a need for urgency and coordination, and also for figuring out the best ways into and out of our (Olympic) venues,” she said.
Regarding the Paralympic Games, Second District Supervisor Holly Mitchell and LA Metro board member said she wants representatives from the U.S. government at the October meeting. “For the Paralympics it is all about accessibility,” she added.
Los Angeles held the Olympic in 1932, 1984 and will in 2028. It is one of only three cities in history to host the Olympic games three times.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
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