Imperfect Paradise: Is LA becoming a public transit city?

0:00Hey, it's Julia Paskin, all things considered host here at LAS. A lot can happen between your morning coffee and the drive home. Stay up to date on the day's biggest stories on LAS 89.3 or download the mobile app and listen wherever the afternoon takes you. Anytime, anywhere. Can Los Angeles shake its car-centric reputation and really deliver a transit-first Olympics in 2028? Listen now to our weekly podcast in Perfect Paradise. Hey, this is Imperfect Paradise. I'm Noreda Moreno. It takes me about 20 minutes to get to work every day by car from LAS historic Filipino town neighborhood to the city of Pasadena. Now, I actually enjoy driving. I get to catch up on the morning news. I stop for coffee sometimes, but on a recent summer morning in the middle of a heatwave, I rode into work on the train,

1:01with LAS transportation correspondent Kavish Harjai. We met up at Union Station downtown. I didn't have a metro card, so he showed me how to buy one, and where to tap it. I did it. Okay. The original plan was to take public transit all the way from my apartment to LAS, but then... I car-pulled my fiance because I did look up what the route would be to get here via public transit. So convoluted. I would have had to have walked like, like 15 minutes to the nearest bus stop. It's way too hot to like, walk that far. I'm already sweating. When was the last time you took an Ellie Metro train? I think it was 10 years ago that we reached before I moved to the Midwest. This idea that public transit isn't convenient, it takes too long, or that we need cars in a place

2:09as big as Los Angeles. These are perceptions that a lot of Angeloos have had at one point or another. It's why we're famously considered a car city. But Kavish has a different take. Okay, but Kavish, do you have a transportation subway hot take that you want to show? Well, it's not hot as then it isn't a quick take, but my take is that Metro is expanding really fast. And so is it that we have to wait until that infrastructure is there for more people to use public transit or is it something that culturally can start happening now? Meaning that in order for LAS to become less car dependence, we all just have to shift the way that we're thinking about public transit. The Olympics are coming to Los Angeles in 2028 and pose a ticking clock. Two years before our public transit infrastructure will be put to the test

3:13by millions of tourists. So will LA be ready in time? How has Southern California's history shaped our transit culture? And how can we shift our relationship to public transit? That's today on Imperfect Paradise. I'm here in studio with LA's Transportation Correspondent Kavish Harjai. Hey Kavish. Hi, Narita. So first of all, thank you for taking me on my first train ride in Los Angeles in about 10 years. And I'm not going to lie, I was a little embarrassed to admit that. I have to say I'm still not convinced that LA's car dependence is more of a question of culture than infrastructure. But before we get into that, I want to ask you about your relationship to public transit and just what is like getting around LA? Sure. So just going back a little bit, I started adulthood in New York and I lived there for eight years. Obviously, I took the train there if not

4:17exclusively when I moved to Southern California. I came in with the perception that I think a lot of people have about LA, which is you need a car to live here. But then in late 2024, my friend started taking me on the train. And it was funny at that point I had been so car-pilled that I was like, what do you mean we're going to get on the train? And I actually look back on that moment with a little bit of embarrassment for a few reasons, but mostly because the route we were going on was from downtown to Koreatown and vice versa. And the train is definitely the best way to do that route. I still do own a car, but I do minimize those trips. And since then, I've really incorporated the bus and the train a lot more into my daily habits. If I'm doing like small trips around my neighborhood, I'll try to take like micro transit. And Kavish, I actually can relate to that because I also bought a car when I decided to move back to Southern California from Chicago, where I was living for several years. And when I lived there, I did ride the bus or the train

5:21every single day to work. But now that I'm back, I drive every single day. You know, I feel like I can't live without one here. I don't live as close to public transit anymore. So it makes it really difficult. But I know I know that there are some people who don't think it's possible at all. And I do not fall in that camp. I think I can do better. And Kavish, you talked to someone who totally lives a car-free life here in LA. Yeah. So I talked to Tamara Brown. She is a comedy writer and performer. She's been taking public transit in LA for over 20 years. She has to take public transit because she can't drive. She's legally blind. And she says when she moved here, people were like, oh, you need a car in LA. I was like, I see buses on the street. Like, what the hell are you talking about? I remember thinking in my head, like, walk home going, if I have to memorize every single bus schedule in this city, I will do it. It's actually something she talks about in her comedy a lot.

6:26She made a whole one-woman show called Bus People. It's about LA Metro and the sort of folks you meet on the bus specifically. I mean, the thing that I'll say about LA public transit that I don't think anyone appreciates is that it exists. I coined the term Metro-splaying. That's when people who never use LA public transit try to tell you how bad they think it is. That is something that sparked me wanting to do this show. I just kind of wanted to challenge the misconceptions about public transportation and make it seem something that's not so unattainable, something that is on the fringe. So what does Tamra think is holding Angelina's back from using more public transit? She thinks that, of course, there are a lot of things that could be improved, but she also thinks it's in part a mindset shift. Like, yes, we need to expand it. Yes, we need to approve it. Those things go without saying. But why are people not using the infrastructure that we have? If you ask

7:30somebody, like, well, why don't you take the bus? Why don't you try taking public transportation? Because it's so inconvenient. It takes so long. You never know when it's going to come. It's like, okay, it can be inconvenient, sure. But you also complain all the time about traffic and you can complain about parking and the expense of owning a car and things like that. Why are those inconveniences palatable to you? But this inconvenience is not. Coming up, a tale of two transit projects and what they've come to symbolize about LA's public transportation system. Plus, the surprising history of transit in LA. Stay with us. Hey, if you're listening right now and you enjoy the show, take a second to follow Imperfect Paradise on your podcast app. It really helps us out. Imperfect Paradise is supported by Gordon and Donna Crawford who believe that quality journalism makes Los Angeles a better place

8:35to live. Imperfect Paradise is supported by Shopify. Is there something you put off in your life that you wish you had started sooner? I wish that someone would have told me when I was 20 to start investing. Just a little bit would have started me on my way. If you've been thinking about starting a business, there's no better time than right now to start investing in your future. And Shopify can help get you going. Everything you need to start selling is included and ready from day one, including one click checkout with Shop Pay, which makes your life and your customers lives a lot easier. With Shopify providing all the tools to sell, you can spend more time focused on growing your business and less about all the logistics. With Shopify, nothing stands between your idea and a real business. So go make it one. If you're ready to stop putting off your business and start hearing, then you're ready for Shopify. Start your free trial at Shopify.com slash Paradise today. You heard that right. Start your free trial today at Shopify.com slash paradise

9:38that Shopify.com slash paradise. Hi, I'm David Rodriguez, a producer on the community engagement team at Alayist. We're working on a photo project that revolves around you. Alayist wants to showcase the different ways Alay residents are rebuilding after last year's fires. Have you recently returned to the area? Are you in the process of rebuilding your home now? What does rebuilding look like to you? Whatever your experience we want to hear and see it. Share your story with us at alayist.com slash rebuild. Hey, this isn't perfect paradise. I'm Nadei Damorino back with LA's transportation correspondent, Kavish Harjai. So now that we're talking about where LA is at with public transit, I'd like to bring up two big recent projects and one that would be considered to be a success and another that I feel like has come to symbolize failure in a way. And those two projects are the

10:41D line and the LAX people mover. Let's start with the people mover. So Kavish, for those who don't know, can you explain how that's going to work? Sure. So the people mover is a train that is supposed to and hopefully will very soon help people move around the different terminals of LAX. Also help them get out of LAX, connecting them to public transit. Right now, of course, the process of going to and from the airport is very car centric. Right. For those of you who have not had the pleasure of flying out of LAX, Kavish, how would you describe that process now? There are a lot of words I probably can't say to describe that process. What I will say is that it's a mess. People are taking cars and ubers. They get stuck in the doom loop there and adds a lot of stress to actually getting to your flight on time. I'm a big fan of the flyway bus. So shadow to the flyway bus. But you know, it's a little crazy that LA doesn't have a real only connection to its biggest airport. Like that's just

11:42not novel in other places, right? Here, we still don't have it. So the people mover is supposed to make getting in and out of LAX easier. We'll have fewer cars going in and out. And that seems like a positive, right? But the issue is that it hasn't actually opened yet. And it's been years, Kavish. So what is going on? There is no good place to start with the answer to this question. It was supposed to open in 2023. It's been delayed again and again. It is nearly done just in terms of like percentage construction completed. It's in the sort of testing phase right now as we're talking. The most recent development is that the contractor, which is a group of large engineering firms, has sued the city. And of course, we have the Olympics coming up, which kind of elevates the pressure here. And it does play into this idea that LA just can get public transportation right that it takes a long time to build here in LA. And so on the flip side, we have another

12:46transit project, one that I think is maybe a rare symbol of success. Welcome to the grand opening of section one of Metro's D-line extension. This is such an exciting moment in Los Angeles history. I'm sorry. For those who don't know, tell us about the D-line extension project. And why was the completion of that first section such a big deal? Right. So there's a lot more to it than just the ride the D T shirts, even though I think those are so iconic. The thing about the first section of the D is that it creates a rail connection between downtown LA through Miracle Mile and into Beverly Hills. This is obviously like a very traffic portion of the city like driving around there during rush hours or even on the weekends can kind of be a nightmare. So having an alternative is really massive. And it's also a train that people have wanted to build for a long time. Right. And while the city has been celebrating the D-line, we also saw a lot of delays and setbacks

13:48there remind us a little bit about that. So large capital projects hardly really ever stick to the planned timeline and budget. The D-line wasn't an exception. The tunneling conditions were difficult since they had to bore through tar sands under Wilshire Boulevard. The opening was delayed by three years. It was originally scheduled to open in 2023. And there were hundreds of millions in cost overruns. I should say also this is just the first part of the extension. There are three in total. And eventually the D-line will go from downtown LA all the way to Westwood. So even though the D-line is technically a successfully completed transit project in LA, I don't know that it's shifting the needle for people in terms of just viewing us as a public transit city. And on that note, Kavish take us back in time and talk about Southern California's history with public transit. Were we always a car city? So to answer that question, I went to

14:50the Metro Library at Union Station. I go here a lot for the Metro board meetings, but I've never made it beyond the third floor, which is where the boardroom is. So it was really exciting for me to take an elevator to the 15th floor. This is an example of a traffic study in LA as early as 1915, right? Permissioned. So while there, I met Claire Kennedy. She's an archivist at Metro and Chris Salvano. He's the digital resources librarian there. They had all these super interesting maps and photographs of LA's transit history there. And what our conversation showed me was that LA was not a car-centered city at first. I usually remind people a lot of the freeways were built over old rail lines and streetcar lines. People tend to be shocked when they discover that there was over thousand miles of rail in Los Angeles in 1910, 1920. LA started as a transit city and eventually became a car-centered city. So I was at the Metro Library for a few hours, but to do the quick

15:55consolidation of LA Metro's history documentation of streetcars go back to the 1870s. Well, in the beginning there was the car, the big red car. They were mostly privately owned and weren't like, it wasn't like a like a network per se, like sort of how we think about transit systems now. Claire and Chris said it's generally accepted that the peak of the streetcar in LA was the early 1920s. That also coincided with when bus transit was introduced to LA. And the bus was mainly to fill the gaps between the red cars, which these were the streetcars that operated more like cross regionally. And the yellow cars, which were more for like the smaller intra urban trips. While all this is happening, of course, cars come onto the scene in the 1910s, game popularity in the next decade. So then infrastructure like freeways starts to be built to accommodate the the car boom. While this investment in like motor vehicle-related infrastructure is

17:00happening and increasing investment in the upkeep of streetcars is decreasing. So they're falling into disrepair eventually by 1963 passenger service on the streetcar system. And but you know in the 1970s there's sort of a resurgence in the interest in rail. Meaning the idea of rail started to make a comeback? Yes, and you'll never guess why. Actually, you will and everyone will. It's a familiar reason for all Angelina's and its traffic. I think there was public intrigue with the idea of rail returning at that time. Everyone even in the 70s was just exhausted by the traffic, by the smog. And realized at that time that the suburban urban oasis that was envisioned by the city planners in the 1930s. And the intersection stoplight-free expressways of the freeway visions were not the answer. In 1973 Tom Bradley is elected mayor of LA and he makes rail a big part of his platform.

18:06We have four million automobiles on the streets of Greater Los Angeles today. The fact is that in 10 years that number of automobiles will double and imagine what the problem will be then. We've got to get on with the matter of rapid transit. Fast forward a little bit in 1980 Ellie County voters pass proposition a that's a half-sent sales tax to benefit the transit system. And then the first line of the rail system that we know today opens in 1990 formerly known as the blue line now the a-line. July 14 1990 some 100,000 people ride the Los Angeles to long beach metro blue line during its inaugural weekend marking the beginning of a new era of rail transit Southern California. Since then Ellie County voters have agreed to tax themselves again and again to build out the

19:08transit system. So now we have subways several light rail lines and a bus system that kind of serves as the backbone of the entire public transit system in Los Angeles. Coming up can LA make good on its promise for a transit first 2028 Olympics and tips for the metro curious. This week on imperfect paradise Los Angeles is less than two years away from what Olympics organizers say will be a transit first summer games. Is it enough time for a notoriously car dependent city? We're building more transit than anywhere else in the country. We're kind of flipping LA's reputation. And how do we shift our relationship to public transit? It can be inconvenient sure but you also complain all the time about traffic. Listen now on imperfect paradise a weekly news magazine podcast from LA.

20:17Welcome back to imperfect paradise. I'm Nidei Damorino here with LA's transportation correspondent Kavich Harjai. As we mentioned in the beginning of the episode the Olympics are coming to Los Angeles in 2028 and city officials like the mayor have promised a transit first approach. So we have two years to get it together before the system is put to test by millions of tourists. Kavich can you tell us about some of the public transportation projects that are in the works like what is coming down the pipeline and when? I'll start with the temporary stuff which is Metro has a plan to nearly double its bus fleet for the Olympics. It's similar to what LA did back in 1984 when we last had the Olympics here. There is a very large open question about whether the federal government will cough up the the two billion dollars that Metro says it needs to enact its Olympics transportation plan. But there are also these legacy projects things that will outlast the games that will help Angelino's well into the future. These include bus rapid transit

21:21projects along Vermont Avenue and North Hollywood to Pasadena. These are kind of like think light rail but buses so like dedicated bus lanes just sort of faster and more efficient than your usual city bus. And there's also the second and third sections of the D line extending it from downtown LA to westwood. All of this stuff is scheduled to be complete before the Olympics. Wow so it sounds like Metro is really growing. Yeah that's right and I talk to Josh Reddavo he's part of the transportation advocacy group streets for all. He says that LA actually has the fastest growing transit system in the country and he's pretty optimistic about it. We're kind of flipping LA's reputation. It's going to be a long time before we're competing with New York but everywhere else in America we're on track to pass on. We haven't already. Yeah it's hard to get away from comparing ourselves to cities like New York or or even Chicago right because it's so common to use public transit there like you could ride the train in from the airport as we said earlier and you can't really do that

22:23here. There's a million reasons all these cities are different and a lot of those reasons impact how transit looks like or works in any of these places. We'll take New York City. New York City is a lot denser geographically smaller has a more defined sort of center of activity. Whereas LA is less dense it's so massive geographically and has a lot of different hubs of activity right. It's not like just downtown LA. There are so many places that people go for work for leisure for living right so there's just a lot of differences between these cities that affect how transit then ends up looking but Josh actually thinks the D-line is going to change the game here in Los Angeles. We've been building our transit system for the last 20 years without building what is objectively the most important mind for the region. The D-line is the densest job and residential corridor maybe on the west coast. I think in like five years four years like this

23:27conversation would feel really different honestly. We're kind of chipping away at that just and then it's all going to happen at once. We're suddenly you have this network connectivity and all of these different nodes are connected to each other conveniently. Kavish I feel like we have been sort of implying throughout this episode that being a more public transit oriented city is something that should be a goal but I want you to lay it out for us especially for folks who are clinging to our cars. Why is it something to strive for? So it's a lot less costly to move on public transportation just think of monthly car payments insurance upkeep obviously reducing cars on the road is just better for the environment and public transportation is just statistically a lot safer than driving but in reporting this episode I sort of came into this interesting idea and this is something that both Tamra, the comedian and also Josh the the transportation advocate both brought up and that's the social

24:30benefit of literally or figuratively rubbing shoulders with other angelinoes. I think it's really bad culturally when everyone's sitting in their own little glass bubble and driving around and they're not engaging or experiencing the place that they're in. I think a lot of people's experience in Los Angeles is like point eight point B and everything that happens in between is just kind of an inconvenience getting from those two places. Public transit puts you next to people that maybe you wouldn't normally interact with in your normal circle and you sometimes get into an amazing conversation you end up having some like philosophical life conversation or even just small interaction. Transit allows you to engage with the community and the people you're around and it kind of forces you to do that for better and for worse. Yeah, I totally agree with that because I do feel like one of the things I miss the most about

25:32writing the train or the bus every day to work was just like interacting or being around people and also when we rode the metro from Union Station in Pasadena it was really cool to just see the city from a different angle that I hadn't really experienced before. But Kavish, do you feel like we got to the bottom of it? Like is making out a public transit city a matter of infrastructure or is it just about changing people's minds? What is clear obviously is that there is no public transportation without the infrastructure. You have to have the built environment for this all to work and it goes way beyond the trains and buses themselves. There's this concept known as first and last mile. Basically people need a way to get to the bus and train stations. So for example if there's not adequate bike infrastructure that people feel safe enough taking or the walk is too far then you're not going to get people from their homes or offices to the transit stations, right?

26:34There's so many other things to schedule frequency and reliability are huge factors. If people don't see the incentive of taking public transit, they won't do it. There's also the perception of safety on the system and people have different tolerance levels for being comfortable in certain environments. And I don't know. All that being said, I hear people say things about LA not having public transportation like way too frequently. Obviously being a transportation reporter, I feel compelled to say something even if it's a very casual conversation at a bar and my friends next to me are like there he goes again. Anyways, I do think it's not just me. I think there are things like the right the DT shirts and there are even some like online influencers who are like showing daily trips on the system who are trying to combat the perception that it's a car or nothing at all in LA. And as a transportation expert, do you have any tips for people who maybe want to start taking public transit and just aren't sure where to start? The way I think about it is kind of like a

27:38meatless Monday or I guess in this case, a transit Tuesday. Basically if people are hesitant about public transit in LA, what I say is think about some of the places you like to go or that you frequently go to. Chances are there is a way to get to at least one of these places using a bus or train or both. And so then the ask then is maybe just try taking transit to that place once a week. I don't think anyone is suggesting you get rid of your car altogether. Do you have to figure out what makes sense for you? The region is massive. Sometimes you have crazy commutes. Ultimately, I think the more people take transit, the more they'll understand the limits of the system, but also they'll understand the opportunity it presents. Okay, so we made it to Pasadena to our illustrious studios. So, Nareta, do you think this is something you would do again? It is. Yeah, I liked it. And it felt so familiar. I think because I

28:44have that experience like taking the train on a daily basis when I lived in the Midwest, I just I did feel intimidated at first because when you enter I'm like, oh, I don't even know which machine to like get a ticket from, but now I have a tap card. So I'm gonna load it with more money. Yay! Kavish, thank you so much for joining us and also for helping me navigate the metro. Anytime, Nareta. Kavish Harjai is the transportation correspondent for LAISD. Special thanks to Mary Plummer, managing editor for Enterprise Reporting and Investigations. I'm your host, Nareta Moreno. Monica Bushman is our producer this episode. Natalie Chodnowski is our senior producer, Catherine Mailhouse is the executive producer of the show and our director of content development, engineering, mixing and original music by E. Scott Kelly. Imperfect Paradise is a production of LAISD studios.

29:53Hi, I'm Nareta Moreno, catch the LA Report three times a day during the week, the TopsoCal stories in less than five minutes. With your morning brew before eight, Good morning, I'm Austin Cross. With me on the afternoon edition at one, You're listening to the LA Report and wrap up at six. Welcome back to the LA Report, I'm Julia Pascon. Subscribe to the LA Report wherever you get podcasts.