PARIS: Los Angeles, a city famous for its passionate car culture and notorious for its traffic, will strongly emphasise the use of public transportation when it hosts the Olympic Games in 2028, LA Mayor Karen Bass said on Saturday.

LA is the birthplace of the modern freeway system but its decades-long romance with the automobile has come with a cost, including soul-crushing congestion and frequently poor air quality.

“The no car Games means that you will have to take public transportation to get to all of the venues,” Bass said at a press conference in Paris. “In order to do that, we have been building out our transports and system.”

Bass said the city will utilize 3,000 buses loaned to it from around the country to ease traffic congestion. The US government last month pledged $900 million to help improve the city’s rail and bus systems in anticipation of the Games.

While the phrase “no car Games” is sure to raise eyebrows among Angelenos, there will be no prohibition on driving to venues like Dodger Stadium and the Rose Bowl, which have parking lots.

Instead the idea is to encourage the use of public transit as much as possible.

“We’re already working to create jobs by expanding our public transportation system in order for us to have a no car Games,” Bass said. “And that’s a feat in Los Angeles, because we’ve always been in love with our cars. But we’re already working to ensure that we can build a greener Los Angeles.”

Published in Dawn, August 11th, 2024