Getty ImagesFrom busy highways to classic car street races, Los Angeles has long been considered the capital of American car culture. Could that change in time for the Olympics?
With sunny skies almost year-round, some say Los Angeles is the perfect place for cycling.
“It's the perfect community for runners, cyclists and the outdoors, but overall we're addicted to our cars, we're addicted to the need for speed,” said Damien Kievett, executive director of the Safe Streets for All initiative. .
But until recently, cars — not pedestrians or cyclists — dominated the roads.
Los Angeles extends over 460 square miles (1,200 square kilometers) and is known for its endless sprawl and traffic congestion.
While cities like New York and Boston have embraced mass transit, it has never caught on in Los Angeles — where only about 7% of Angelenos use transit to get to work. According to Neighborhood Data for Social Change.
And although the weather in Los Angeles would be the envy of any cyclist in Amsterdam, only about 1% of the bikes are in working order.
But with hundreds of thousands of spectators expected to descend on the city for the 2026 World Cup and 2028 Olympic Games, something needs to be done to make getting around the city easier.
Los Angeles adopted the “Twenty-Eight by 28” transportation plan in 2017 to expand mass transit options ahead of the Summer Olympics. Since then, miles and miles of new bike lanes have appeared.
“This is long overdue,” Mr. Kievett said.
Kievett, a cyclist who lost his leg in 2013 after being hit by a car while riding his bike in Griffith Park, believes more people will commute on their own bikes or rentable Metro bikes once streets become safer and bike lanes become more connected to each. last.
Los Angeles voters in 2024 overwhelmingly supported a ballot measure requiring the city to build more bike lanes and more walkable and livable spaces in Los Angeles.
But will car-loving Angelenos embrace bike culture? Some are actively fighting the changes, complaining that bike lanes worsen car traffic in the Star City.
“What do you mean we voted for him? Not here! Not me!” “We're going to have a lot of fun,” said Darren Drabing, president and CEO of Forest Lawn Cemetery, who is fighting against bike lanes near the cemetery because he believes it will increase traffic during his commutes and funerals.
“Everywhere I've seen it applied, they have failed,” he said. “All it does is make people more stressed and frustrated.”
Some fail.
While protected bike lanes have transformed Olympic host cities like Paris and London, politicians are currently trying to remove bike lanes in Toronto that have been part of city streets for nearly a decade (they are being sued by cyclists to stop the plan). .
And in Los Angeles County, the city of Glendale recently voted to remove some bike lanes after complaints of increased traffic.
The new protected bike lanes are creating frustration along Hollywood Boulevard, where automobile traffic is now limited to one lane in each direction for several miles. But it also causes others to sometimes bike instead of drive.
Cyclist Mimi Holt used to ride her bike in Seattle and then stopped riding for about 20 years out of fear of speeding drivers on crowded Los Angeles streets.
“In Los Angeles, people drive so fast, it's so terrifying,” she said.
When her doctor told her she was pre-diabetic, she decided to venture off the road to get more exercise, and said that since getting back on two wheels, she feels much younger.
She said she can't wait for the city's “islands of bike lanes” to be linked together.
“If there was a connected road, I would be with them all the time,” Holt said, adding that she would get rid of her car if safely cycling everywhere was an option in Los Angeles.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said the city and the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Committee are making significant progress toward holding a “transit-first” Olympics, as she calls it, after initially sparking controversy by supporting a “car-free” Olympics.
But with more than 100 miles (160 kilometers) of bike lanes planned, supporters worry the process is taking too long.
So far, only five of the “Twenty-Eight by 28” projects have been completed and 23 are in progress, not all of which are expected to be completed in time before the Games.
Los Angeles has already received $900m (£717m) from the Biden administration to help mostly with rail projects. But it will take more to realize the city's transportation dreams by 2028.
Mayor Bass and other city leaders wrote a letter to Trump's transition team requesting $3.2 billion in federal funding for “the largest and most spectacular sporting event ever held in American history.”
President Trump was supportive of Los Angeles' bid for the Olympics during his first presidency, and he asked officials not to forget his invitation.
Mayor Bass said they have not yet received a response to the letter, but she said she hopes President-elect Trump will be supportive despite his frequent tensions with other political leaders in California, such as Gov. Gavin Newsom and Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi.
Getty ImagesSome people, like Ms. Holt, like the idea of getting rid of their cars, for several reasons.
“I can barely afford my car. Insurance is too expensive, gas is too expensive, and it's not good for the environment,” Ms. Holt said at a meeting to consider proposed bike paths around Los Angeles.
But while many Angelenos rely on mass transit to get to work and school, many others who live here have never taken a bus or ventured to the subway to get to the subway, which is often portrayed as crime-ridden and miserable in the media .
Many locals think the idea of car-free rides is ridiculous.
“This is a wonderful dream,” said Shivonne Ozinga, a Burbank resident who opposes additional bike lanes near her neighborhood. She said the city is too vast, sprawling and dependent on cars for change.
“I can't imagine that happening in such a short period of time given the car culture we have here.”
But Mayor Bass can envision a transportation revolution, and she said she believes Los Angeles' transportation changes will last long after the Olympics and the 2026 World Cup.
“As a cyclist, I certainly hope so,” she said.
