Is LA's Metro system ready for the 2028 Olympics?

After a trip to Paris, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has seen some flashing warning lights as her city prepares to host the 2028 Olympics. Tom Wait reports.

[@Jgrey3691]

Maybe now the city officials will finally realize the value of good public transit system.

[@commentorsilensor3734]

The politicians listen to the voters. The you need cars, parking lots rail system n having bus is stupid transit advocates hijack the policy. One of the selfish hijackers is Southern CA Transit advocate. The government listen to the hijackers. What can you do?

[@tokimontana3138]

LA is a bunch of suburbs in a trenchcoat pretending to be a city, heres to hoping for better public transit in the future

[@commentorsilensor3734]

Even the metro areas that have train stations, the public transportation grade is below F.

[@mrxman581]

LA has been continuously improving its public transit system since 1990. LA had no Metro rail system back then. Now it has 110 miles of track with 101 stations, and two BRT lines and will continue to grow for the foreseeable future.

[@commentorsilensor3734]

@mrxman581 LA is the best example that building rails ruin public transportation. Most of stations require cars. Unlike metro systems in other countries or even New York and DC, LA train stations are not the hubs. In good metro countries, each train station has tons of bus stops. LA doesn't. Once people get put of most stations, it is faster to walk 5 miles than taking buses. LA useless trains since 1990 is the best reason to stop building HSR. Train supporters like you never take public transportation, never have to worry about being late of taking public transportation must stop promoting train or HSR by putting some stupid numbers.

[@MattLashbrook]

how about defund roads and highway expansion, tax drivers, good place to start. (f cars)

[@KyrilPG]

I fully concur ! Greetings from Paris

[@MightyMouse11]

Metro should play the lotto

[@mrxman581]

In 1984, they leased school buses from several school districts since they were on Summer break. Maybe they can do that again. LAUSD alone operates about 1300 buses.

[@TheWolfHowling]

While extra Transit Investment is always a positive, I find it frustrating that there needs to be some type of justification such as the Olympics. Rarely is there a mentality of “Build it & they will come” like often happens with Highway projects

[@mrxman581]

That's completely untrue. All, and I mean all LA Metro transit projects have ZERO to do with the Olympics coming to town. They had all already been approved way before LA was awarded the Olympics. I'n fact, LA originally bid for the 2024 Olympics and they lost out to Paris. Many believe LA actually had the superior bid, but they awarded it to Paris to commemorate the centennial from the last time they hosted the games. So, as a consolation prize, they subsequently awarded the 2028 games a few months later to LA. I believe it was the first time the IOC has ever awarded an Olympics in that way. Basically, two at the same time. The only transit issue directly related to the Olympics is the one of the buses. In 1984 they got around this shortage issue by leasing buses from school districts that were closed for Sumner break during that time. Maybe they can do that again this time instead of buying buses.

[@TheWolfHowling]

@@mrxman581 I wasn't saying that the project were not already in the pipeline. I believe that the "Subway to the sea" concept is decades old. Simply that the money men & women hold the purse strings a little looser & the wheels of progress turn a little faster when there's a event upcoming of the World Stage

[@commentorsilensor3734]

That's be clear. The so call 800 million transit will not help any athletes to move around let along people in LA. Most of money goes build rails. One is to Santa Monica. One is to SFV. Assume everyone loves to go to those places. Santa Monica is small, n public transportation is better. SFV, how do you get around when you reach stations.

[@nannerz1994]

They have two NFL teams at sofi and not direct rail connections?

[@americanteen97]

Welcome to America lol

[@bluenycom]

Forget about stadiums that not used daily. Look at LAX, a very busy airport that doesn't have easy rail access. Been to many airports in the world, but LAX is the worst in term of public transportation to/from it. I'd think this is important for an Olympic.

[@commentorsilensor3734]

​@bluenycom why people keep bringing stupid rails to airports. Most airports that have good bus connections. Airports act like hub. LA only has flytolax. When you go to Tokyo, many people will advice you to save money n take buses. People like you make public transportation when worst.

[@bluenycom]

@@commentorsilensor3734 - I have been to Tokyo, Taipei, Seoul, Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong, Portland OR, Seattle, and many more. They all have rail AND bus options. The point is provide as many options as possible for travelers. Yes you can take bus from Narita to Tokyo, but it's much faster with the express train. I have done bus, local train, and express train from Narita.

[@brachiator1]

​@@bluenycomThe People Mover, if completed on time, will help with transportation to and from LAX.

[@jonathanbishopmusic]

This will be LA's third time hosting the Olympics--the most of any city in the world. I have to think if they could pull off the logistics the first two times with practically _none_ of the transit infrastructure that exists today or is being built before 2028, they can do it again.

[@matthewthesecond]

LA will actually be tied w/ London and Paris (when it happens this year) for most Olympics hosted by a city. Hopefully LA figures it out.

[@mrxman581]

​@matthewthesecond Of course they will. In 1984 they had similar concerns about horrible traffic. It didn't happen. Many employers let people have flexible work hours. Many others left town on vacations. If I remember correctly, they leased school buses to temporarily augment the LA Metro buses since many schools were off for Summer.

[@tylerkochman1007]

Olympics have massively grown in scope. City’s traffic patterns and population have not remained stagnant. And in 1980 they were lucky that they scared enough people to leave town or otherwise avoid driving so as to remove enough cars from the streets to make room.

[@qjtvaddict]

Before they HAD MORE INFRASTRUCTURE

[@KyrilPG]

Paris already hosted the Olympics in 1900 and 1924. This will be the 3rd time this summer. London hosted the summer Olympics in 1908, 1948, and 2012. Los Angeles won't be the only city to host the Olympics 3 times... As for the crowds, it's estimated that there will be 15 million visitors in Paris for the event over the duration of the Olympics and Paralympics. With between 350k and 650k people just for the opening ceremony itself, as it will be held on the river with large temporary bleachers set up on the banks and bridges along several kilometers. The opening event is a major crowd management and public transportation challenge. Thankfully, they have a massive transit network with some automated lines capable of extremely high frequencies. The crowds of today's Olympics aren't even remotely comparable to the amount of visitors to a host city a few decades ago. Today, Olympic visitors come from everywhere and mostly attend 1 or maybe a few events while in the previous decades, they used to attend many more events, with a higher proportion of locals. For the Olympics, the Paris transit system will operate in super peak mode with a daily capacity of over 10 million rides across the different networks (metro, express regional metro, trams, and busses). Plus, they will substantially increase the number of station-based and free-roaming bikeshare bicycles with the goal of having 10 to 20% of each event's attendance to arrive on bikes, via shiny new bike lanes. So yeah, the number of busses in LA for the 2028 Olympics is concerning. As, for now, I don't see how would LA manage the crowds comparable to what they expect in Paris this summer, especially with LA's limited transit network. Edit : the Paris transit system has a total of roughly 15,000 busses in operation, quite far from the 1300 mentioned in LA, and that's on top of the massive rail based transportation systems.

[@jorgecgonzalez9976]

Lease the damn buses what's the big deal, as everyone in this said they did it in 1984. Overreaction by KCAL news, ridiculous for ratings.

[@CancelYoutube026]

I'm thinking have people standing in front of the gates, and have each riders show their ID and card would help the quality of train rides in 2028.

[@brachiator1]

The 1984 Games were a tremendous success and didn't lose money. Various city officials need to put aside their egos and appoint a master administrator who can bring various elements together. Also, in addition to more buses, officials will need to increase bus and train security. In 1984, the homeless problem was not as bad as it is now.

[@PCLANParty]

Lease extra buses for the short term surge?

[@onemercilessming1342]

Yep!

[@Trojans5050]

Yeah buying buses for just one event for a couple weeks is ridiculous unless they have a use for them later. Ask all CA agencies to borrow buses for a month.

[@onemercilessming1342]

@Trojans5050 Yep. So, why do I have a terrible feeling that we're going to end up paying for new buses??? CA politicians suck.

[@Trojans5050]

@@onemercilessming1342 considering the city doesn’t have the money, and the plan was to use existing resources, it would be quite sad if they bought them….

[@onemercilessming1342]

@@Trojans5050 Sad? Guess who gets assessed with more taxes? The citizens. Us. We, the saps, I mean, people...

[@Helios1001]

Instead of buying buses just lease more buses for that short period. Ask other agencies in California or other states.

[@mrxman581]

That's what they did in 1984. They leased buses from school districts since the schools were off for Summer. It worked well.

[@1fault]

No man

[@joelpaniagua2024]

I'm not ready!

[@jecarlin]

Good thing someone thought of this when they decided it would be a great idea to have LA host the Olympic Games.

[@Northwest360]

I love Tom Waits, great song writer

[@monkeyrun]

kinda funny that public transportation is so terrible that there are not enough buses. Good luck going anywhere if your car broke down.

[@mrxman581]

2300 buses just by Metro. Many other neighboring cities have their own like Santa Monica, Culver City, Montebello, etc.

[@bluechairreviews]

I hope they end up purchasing a new fleet of busses, especially if we could get some newer models. It would be nice to have more variance, and it would help bring higher frequencies to under serviced routes after the games.

[@mrxman581]

Only if we build true BRT lines. Otherwise, the additional buses will only add to the traffic. Having more buses in regular traffic lanes will only slow traffic further.

[@imtotallynathan7564]

If we didnt have nimbyism we could have had much bigger system 28 by 28 was a massive failure because of it

[@boardcertifiable]

All the locals should become Uber/Lyft drivers.

[@akrimos006]

I mean us the french promised 5 new lines for the subs and free transport yet none all the new lines are coming for 2027 and the transport will cost double just take example on us

[@WorldCitizenW]

So exciting! Transportation will be better!!!!

[@em-performance2016]

Why even ask such an asinine question. Goes to show you the disconnect local media & politicians really have with the community yet tell you who you should vote for. The metro is one of the worse in the country, you can't go in any direction without seeing some craziness or a threat. That and the fact that it takes near 2 hours to go from Long Beach & Santa Monica.

[@JacquesDSilva]

What about a New Trolley System? What about trains?

[@mrxman581]

That's happening. Did you not view the entire video? Several lines will be open or expanded by 2028.

[@JacquesDSilva]

Watched it again, I guess I'm being pedantic, but they mentioned money for busses, and thanking the FED for money with finishing the Metro Rail, but I didn't hear 'Trolley'. My bad if they mentioned it and I didn't hear it

[@qjtvaddict]

Metro

[@americanteen97]

@@JacquesDSilvanah you’re not crazy, there’s some light rail but not enough, most expansions are only new underground or rapid bus lines

[@mrxman581]

​@@JacquesDSilvaMy bad. I'm from Los Angeles and we call the whole rail system Metro. It includes both subways (metro) and light rail (trolly/tram). However, our light rail is more of a hybrid system. The trains are high floors and so are the station platforms. They run on dedicated ROWs and are partially grade separated. Some significantly so, and one completely grade separated. And three of the lines have underground stations, too much like a traditional metro (subway). By 2028, we'll have a new 9 mile long Metro (subway) line with 7 underground stations. Two of the light-rail lines will be extended further by a few miles each with new stations above ground. Lastly, in 2025, the LAX airport will be connected to the LA Metro (system name) via an automated people mover. Oh, BTW, we have 2 subway (metro) lines and 4 light-rail (trolly/tram) lines, and 2 BRT (bus rapid transit) lines. I hope this clears things up.

[@EshaanR]

US gov should pay. They choose to host why make LA feel like US is a 3rd world country in transit.

[@monkeyrun]

because Americans think taking buses is for homeless and poor people. If they can vote to completely abolish buses I think the voters would do it.

[@cocorevenge]

Ugh.

[@user-xc3lu3nn5w]

Why don't they rent 2,700 busses?

[@RandallRedman-sq2hk]

Thank You USA Universities having FIeld Hockey and Team Handball. We need to advise our State High School Athletic Associations. Sure getting a great Education is more important but give our kids a chance to compete as well.

[@KyrilPG]

2700 busses would be doubling the number that LA Metro operates? So LA Metro only has about 1350 busses, is that right? It seems very low. In Paris there are roughly 15k busses, including double articulated trambusses, to support the metro, the express regional metro called RER , and the tram networks. Plus several thousand extra station-based bikeshare bikes, extra temporary bikeshare stations and several thousand extra free-roaming rental bikes. And yet, they're still worried about the transit capacity during the Olympics in Paris this summer. I knew that LA was poor on transit, but I didn't think the situation was that bad. How will the visitors move around during the 2028 LA Olympics? Los Angeles only has a mere fraction of the transit capacity that Paris has, and distances in LA are higher than in much denser Paris. Anyway, just before this one I watched a video about LA's D line extension and it's a great news. But Los Angeles is still barely livable without a car and I hope many more transit developments will be made.

[@mrxman581]

LA Metro runs 2300 buses on 117 lines. Paris has about 10,000 buses, but only has 58 lines. So Los Angeles actually has more lines that probably cover much more territory than Paris since Paris is only 40 square miles and Los Angeles is 500 square miles. Very different situations. Difficult to compare. Very different cities.

[@travelsofmunch1476]

I'm confused... Lease busses?

[@mrxman581]

Yes, in the 1984 Olympics they leased buses from the school districts since the schools are closed for Summer vacation. The school district in Los Angeles alone has 1300 buses. And there are other neighboring school districts, too.

[@mrxman581]

Yes, in the 1984 Olympics they leased buses from the school districts since the schools are closed for Summer vacation. The school district in Los Angeles alone has 1300 buses. And there are other neighboring school districts, too.

[@guilhermetavares4705]

I think Rio has twice as many buses as LA, so bizarre.

[@mrxman581]

True, but the 2300 buses are for LA Metro only. That doesn't include the buses from neighboring cities like Santa Monica, Culver City, Long Beach, Montebello, etc. that run their own bus lines. Many bus lines cross city boundaries in both directions.

[@bcdaron]

Rio has more bus riders on average than L.A., Americans are wealthier and have the ability to purchase more vehicles.

[@annquach6613]

No. Rent the buses from other metros. Electric only.

[@Gordon76100]

Games take place daily now if you board bus or train you may be forced to engage in a fight-to-the-death tournament.

[@ninobrown3490]

Man, you ain't NEVER lied!!!💯💯💯💯

[@mrxman581]

Spoken by someone who doesn't regularly use Metro. Sit down.

[@Tokamak3.1415]

@@mrxman581 So you're calling Janet Hahn a liar then? Blue Line. The riders know it's bad. The LASD knows it's bad. The LACBS knows it's bad. You don't agree. Those are powerful blinders.

[@VEE1959]

Does the memory of LA RIOTS slip everyones minds. And that was long ago. Now things are 100x worse in La. Plus the actual smell there us horrible. Its like a combo or urine and feces everywhere you go. No clean unbroken sidewalks to walk down, and having to try to avoid beggers everywhere is impossible ,because theres thousands of them. And if your in a car, several of them at each traffic light surround your car begging. It was the worst vaycay of my life. I will never go back as long as i live. The stories of California i was told of as a child , is not whats there now, thats for sure. And you can hardly find anyone whom speaks english.

[@pizzacat69]

$5 that there's going to be a fatal accident during the olympics

[@leifkemp]

Until these newscasters take the Metro to work, they won't understand the problem. Buses in LA are crime scenes on wheels.

[@mrxman581]

Not true.

[@leifkemp]

@@mrxman581 SO true!

[@ilovephotography1254]

Why can't the city borrow or lease busses for other counties or near by states? Why can't the city contract short term leases with Greyhound and other bus carriers? Get Elon Musk onboard to make Electric Busses. Provide vans and mini busses to connect gaps that don't need full sized busses. Make a deals with advertising companies that will provide busses that promote their products. For example Niki could have a double decker bus that looks like a hightop. Goodyear can partner with Airstream and make busses that look like blimps. ...Better yet hire me for more innovative ideas😄

[@onemercilessming1342]

So, short-term lease buses from other major cities. NYC, Boston, Miami, DC, Chicago, Dallas...etc. We have enough large cities to spread 2700 leases around. Recruit Uber and Lyft drivers to the area. Increase the number of taxis and add a couple of trains to the routes. We're a big country. Let the vehicles you lease/recruit advertise their cities and states. Added tourism won't hurt them.

[@christophercotton9048]

Don’t forget the Metro Micro service.

[@onemercilessming1342]

@@christophercotton9048 ???

[@christophercotton9048]

@@onemercilessming1342 it's a service similar to dial a ride but you have the Uber/Lift like component. Only difference is that the micro vehicles work in a specific service area(s). The fare is much cheaper than Uber and Lyft. $1 base fare to start. This month it's going up to $2.50.

[@philip7396]

Salt Lake City 2002 was successful in getting buses and drivers from other agencies across the country. California has lots of different transit agencies that are not very integrated (every county seems to have a different agency and fare system). Sounds like an opportunity to actually work together.

[@onemercilessming1342]

@@philip7396 No one ever accused Californication of working cooperatively, either intrastate or interstate. Too many self-important and egocentric politicians.

[@adriansiu7342]

Maybe but the homeless definitely isn;t

[@rosierose1167]

Hey Mrs Bass, So what about all the Homeless people, what city U gonna drop them off at? What about all the $$$ are u using the Honeless money?

[@mrxman581]

They are being housed. 11,000 were housed last year. And, with the new Prop 1 that past, it will now be much easier to remove homeless from public places and get them help.

[@commentorsilensor3734]

This 800 million dollars is vital to transit. Mayor plus other crazy train lovers politicians n advocates, i am not asking you to take public transportation. Have someone drive along prposed train routes, then stop the cars n walk n take buses n see how efficient that is. That is very much true on every rail projects. LA has been doingbthat for past 3 decades. If you dont drive, the transit improvement doesn't impact you. We, non car drivers, get used to. Just don't broadcast n say its vital for 2028 Olympics. Tell them the rails are ready. Ask Olympic committee to provide car rental or uber vouchers to all the athletes. Do not lie to them. You mean unlike Japan, France, Taiwam, etc, i need cars to use rails Now, LA public transportation is ready. Case closr

[@Dweller415]

The Olympics are a waste of City, County, State and Federal tax dollars.

[@lalodaniels1388]

Only if you do nothing to plan for it like they have.

[@davidtran2026]

Wrong question, is LA itself ready for 2028? A big resounding NO.

[@SuhoPak]

visitors will get a true tour of the city sitting next to some guy who just dropped his crack pipe and insists you help him look for it

[@mrxman581]

Lame and tired comment.

[@FlixCreEightR]

Who cares about the stupid olympics.

[@MightyMouse11]

Thieves are ready

[@Gloria-ro4vn]

That was the first thing that came to my mind too. I can envision people getting off plane and having to decide which gang banger with a gun do they want to hand over their wallet, phone, watch ect. too

[@DM-eo6zw]

LA Mayor Karen Bass just flew to France to find out how they moved their homeless out of the city for the upcoming Olympics.

[@chrisprado4597]

Not at all and not even by the Olympics will they be ready. Might as well relocate the Olympics.

[@lalodaniels1388]

It's too little too late, they show have gotten serious about this the day they found out that they were hosting the Olympics. Now we're going to look like a bunch of amateurs with buses instead of trains.

[@commentorsilensor3734]

It's nothing. 2008 was best chance. Then it was hijacked by selfish train lovers. Life remains the same. OK, some change Non car drivers suffer more. Uber drivers have more business at train stations.

[@lalodaniels1388]

@@commentorsilensor3734 good point about the uber drivers, but trains are still better than buses and cars. Look at Europe for example.

[@commentorsilensor3734]

@@lalodaniels1388 what good about trains if you need cars n Uber. Since you mentioned Europe, you don't need cars to get to train stations. There is such thing call good bus system. I don't know your meaning of train is better. If you mean drive in n out of train stations is better, that's what's wrong with LA wasteful projects. You cannot be a pure train rider, CHECK EUROPE.

[@lalodaniels1388]

@@commentorsilensor3734@commentorsilensor3734 I don't know. Somehow, Prague, Czech Republic, is a much poorer country than we are and for sure doesn't have the wealth in LA County, and somehow, they have a great train and trolley system with very few buses. Most people get there by using underground trains and trolleys. As someone who grew up in LA County and just moved away 5 years ago, I know from personal experience that poor Prague does public transit much better than LA County. In Paris where this years Olympics, they are light years ahead, and most everyone uses a train to not only travel within the city, but they use high speed trains to take day trips into the countryside and other cities within a 300 mile range.

[@commentorsilensor3734]

@lalodaniels1388 it's mentality. I was going say Czech is a poorer country. Therefore, public transportation has to be provided in major cities. Then, that does not explain Japan, France, GB, and German. People get used to driving in the USA. When oil price goes up (still cheaper than most non OPEC countries), people attack politicians for making US gasoline. I love politicians said higher gasoline prices more. Hmm, only in USA, poor people complain about higher gasoline prices when they lose jobs. Of course, there are many poor Americans that don't worry about gasoline prices at the pump. They worry about bus go nowhere. Most people don't care those real poor people. Besides gasoline prices, politicians will also be blamed for. Car insurance costs. I read the comments too much regulation causes the rising insurance premiums. People cannot afford to pay car payments because they lose jobs. Forget about rural areas, if there are good public transportation, people have choices to save money, but Americans love cars so much. Car expenses are must. Nobody thinks about public transportation. Even the so called transit advocates. They proclaim about global warming, traffic congestion, parking issues, but they support driving to train stations. They said WLA is so jammed, but they support the ideas of driving to train stations. Hmm, driving from point A in WLA to train station, how does that reduce bottleneck in WLA. Before EXPO live, WLA residents threatened to boycott trains if there are no free parking lots. Real estate is quite expensive in WLA. Still lots of money is spent on free parking space. People do ride bicycles. They put the bikes n drive to somewhere. Even bette4, they drive to train stations, n place bike in train n ride bike. They called themselves bike riders n transit advocates. There are truly bike riders. I talked to a person on bus stop. His son broke his ebike. He rode ebike for more than 8 miles . I saw some people got tired of waiting buses. They rode bikes. They got go tired. Then they waiting for buses. I saw many of them on bus stops. One guy I talked frustrated. He rode the bike for many miles. He wanted the break. He asked me when the bus came. I said 20 minutes. He just kept riding. Those are the true transit riders or bike riders that transit advocates n officials ignore. So long Americans are in love cars, public transportation is going to be bad. I am not against cars. So many people drive in Japan, Germany, GB, and France, public transportation is good. In USA, you really have to be dirt poor, handicap, and seniors to use public transportation. That's the problem.

[@EnlistedBombin]

So you bid to host but you can not host... now you want everyone to cover your bullshet? Anyone else see a problem here? So they buy the 1/2 of the needed fleet with new buses then they retire the old buses now LA has a fleet of new busses for free....

[@undefeatedaj]

All those tourists are gonna get jacked taking the metro. Just rent a car and overpay for parking

[@tz7245]

Homelessness and drug use are a problem on the metro but pick pocketing is not really..

[@SuhoPak]

​@@tz7245thieves that frequent the metro know you can't draw blood from a stone

[@americanteen97]

The more people who are on transit at once, the easier it is

[@thornemeadery]

I don’t care how many buses or trains we have, if it ain’t safe to ride it’s a waste of money.

[@itsnearly3am]

i mean adding more buses and trains is literally the most studied and proven way to make any transit system safe so without taking that basic first step it will never be safe

[@thornemeadery]

@@itsnearly3am I dont know if you have been to LA but every train stop has so many people camping in and around the stops as well people cracked out on drugs. Adding more stops is just going to make more camping areas

[@itsnearly3am]

yes, I have ridden public transit in LA almost everyday for seven years straight lol @@thornemeadery the first step to safety is frequency this is a fact. it's not LA specific it's just a fact about how transit works. short wait times means less time in danger waiting around at stops it also increases ridership which means more people around who can be there for you. one time a few years ago i was waiting for a bus in South Central when a man started shouting at me and threatened me with a knife. i was very lucky as a bus arrived just in time for me to get in and the driver closed the doors immediately stopping the other man from getting on. if the bus ran less frequently i could of been seriously hurt. i realize this is just one example but the research shows that this is what keeps people safe. safety comes from good design/environment not just from policing people

[@mrxman581]

​@@thornemeaderyNot true.

[@mrxman581]

​@@itsnearly3amTrue, and the homeless issue got worse for 3 years during the worst of Covid because fares were not being enforced. That policy ended about a year ago and things have improved noticeably. Many less homeless and many more people riding public transit again. I stopped riding Metro around March 2020 and didn't start again until June 2023. And I'm not alone in doing this. Ridership increased every month in 2023 and it will keep improving.