LA mayor envisions car‑free Los Angeles for 2028 Olympics
Los Angeles 2028 without cars? This is the vision for the Olympic Games held by city mayor Karen Bass, who took over the Olympic flag during the games' closing ceremony in Paris. California's most populous city aims to focus on public transportation.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass speaks of the "car-free games." This would be a significant change in one of the most congested and crowded cities in the world, writes frontofficesports.com (FOS).
We have always been in love with our cars. The car-free games mean you will have to use public transportation to get to all the venues, said Bass, quoted by FOS.
American media have already compared the plans to phase out cars in Los Angeles to the cleanup of the Seine, which cost nearly CAD 2.2 billion. "Rzeczpospolita" calculated that the money was spent on upgrading sewer connections, installing new purification systems, and constructing a reservoir with the capacity of 20 Olympic swimming pools under the Austerlitz station. Nevertheless, the water quality in the Parisian section of the river was abysmal.
"Training sessions and competitions were postponed because, after tests, it turned out that there were too many E. coli and enterococci bacteria in the water. It was extremely dangerous for the athletes," reports say.
The games in Los Angeles without cars
What plan do the authorities in Los Angeles have to reduce the number of cars on the streets significantly? The city wants to utilize over 3,000 buses that would run during the games. A large part of the fleet will be borrowed from other American cities and park at temporary bus stops, which will increase significantly. There are also plans to upgrade the rail network and the airport.
Furthermore, employers, especially the largest companies, are to consider transitioning to remote work. Schedule changes are also possible to reduce traffic jams. FOS reminds us that similar solutions were implemented during the LA games in 1984.
According to Bass, "The Olympic Games are an opportunity for transformation." The mayor added that preparations for the games are meant to benefit the residents for decades.
Americans hope to sell more than 9.5 million tickets — as many viewers were drawn to the Paris games. "We don't have the Eiffel Tower, but we have the Hollywood sign," concluded Casey Wasserman, chairman of the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics organizing committee.
