Will L.A. Escape the Tyranny of the Car?

We Love Our Freedom, But We Hate Traffic. And If We Want to Be a 21st-Century City, We’ve Got Changes to Make.

Aaron Paley, native Angeleno and founder of the CicLAvia bike festival, is tired of reading the same newspaper and magazine stories over and over again proclaiming that Los Angeles is at last “coming of age.” Paley opened a panel co-presented by Metro on the question of whether L.A. is mobile enough to be a global city with a bold proclamation. “We’ve been a great city all along,” he told the crowd at MOCA Grand Avenue. “We are a global city.”

Seleta Reynolds, who became general manager of the Los Angeles Department …

by Sarah Rothbard | December 11, 2014

This Is the Future of Your L.A. Rush Hour

From Public Transportation Projects to Express Lanes, Southern California Transit Is Being Transformed. But Will Any of It Speed Up Traffic?

by Sarah Rothbard | September 30, 2014

The Los Angeles Times has said that we’re living in a golden age of public transportation in Los Angeles. But try telling that to the people stuck on the 10 …

No, Carmaggedon Is Not Inevitable

From Peak Time Tolls to Smarter Parking Meters, Some Ideas That Could Get Angelenos Moving

September 27, 2014

It makes sense now that the first movie ever filmed in Los Angeles was of nothing but traffic. The 30 seconds of shaky film, shot downtown on Spring Street in …

An Aria for L.A.’s Oldest Freeway

An Urban Opera About the Concrete River That Is the 110

by M.G. Lord | September 26, 2014

“People are afraid to merge on the freeways in Los Angeles.”

That’s the first line from Less Than Zero, Brett Easton Ellis’ infamous 1985 novel of alienation that paints a grim …

Does Dodging Traffic on a Motorcycle Save Lives?

The CHP and DMV No Longer Encourage Lane-Splitting. But Riding Between Cars Makes the Roads Faster—and Safer—for All of Us.

by Daniel Yi | August 5, 2014

OK, riding a motorcycle is not safe. I know that because I’ve tried to argue otherwise with pretty much every non-rider in my life—my mother, my dad, my wife, my …

That’s Right, I Don’t Drive in Los Angeles

The Bus Has a Code of Behavior, a Pace, and an Intimacy All Its Own

by Nicolei Gupit | February 27, 2014

There are over 6 million drivers in the county of Los Angeles, but I’m not one of them. Since 1998, when my family moved here from the Philippines, we have …

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