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If there's a plan for the Olympics to be car-free then its success or failure is surely unrelated to the size of the (presumably tiny) fraction of cars which ar

If there's a plan for the Olympics to be car-free then its success or failure is surely unrelated to the size of the (presumably tiny) fraction of cars which are self-driving by that time, though? In other words, if people are reliant on cars for transport for the Olympics then whether they're Uber / taxi / Waymo doesn't really make a difference.

jeffbee 2y ago
Its failure is virtually guaranteed because the effort is being run by the city of Los Angeles. They started working on it 7 years ago and have done almost literally nothing. They haven't even completed all of the environmental impact statements. All actual indicators are going the wrong way: bus ridership is down, service hours are down, capital and operating expenses are way, way up, much of the capital is being spent on freeway carpool lanes, widening, ramp widening, and other car junk, and consequently car vehicle miles traveled are way up.
- Karrot_Kream 2y ago
  This hasn't been my experience at all. LA Metro has opened a ton of new rail stations and turned on a ton of new bus routes. The Aviation/Century station just opened and the LAX Transit Center is slated to open some time between now and Jan 2025 which will cleanly connect the C and K lines and offer a quick connection from LAX to the Metro. The Metro ambassadors and increased police presence has definitely made the Metro feel a lot safer. Metro hit record ridership numbers with the Dodgers game/parade the previous week. Ridership decreased across pretty much every transit system post COVID. Metro is bouncing back to pre-COVID levels. I strongly prefer using Metro when I'm downtown because it's just so much convenient than dealing with the hellish congestion. Waymos might make the drive more comfortable but it won't stop you from sitting in the car at 10 mph because of traffic. I agree that Metro has a long way to go the further you get from DTLA or Santa Monica, but I think the trajectory it's on is great.

jeffbee 2y ago

Its failure is virtually guaranteed because the effort is being run by the city of Los Angeles. They started working on it 7 years ago and have done almost literally nothing. They haven't even completed all of the environmental impact statements. All actual indicators are going the wrong way: bus ridership is down, service hours are down, capital and operating expenses are way, way up, much of the capital is being spent on freeway carpool lanes, widening, ramp widening, and other car junk, and consequently car vehicle miles traveled are way up.

Karrot_Kream 2y ago
This hasn't been my experience at all. LA Metro has opened a ton of new rail stations and turned on a ton of new bus routes. The Aviation/Century station just opened and the LAX Transit Center is slated to open some time between now and Jan 2025 which will cleanly connect the C and K lines and offer a quick connection from LAX to the Metro. The Metro ambassadors and increased police presence has definitely made the Metro feel a lot safer. Metro hit record ridership numbers with the Dodgers game/parade the previous week. Ridership decreased across pretty much every transit system post COVID. Metro is bouncing back to pre-COVID levels. I strongly prefer using Metro when I'm downtown because it's just so much convenient than dealing with the hellish congestion. Waymos might make the drive more comfortable but it won't stop you from sitting in the car at 10 mph because of traffic. I agree that Metro has a long way to go the further you get from DTLA or Santa Monica, but I think the trajectory it's on is great.