Los Angeles is moving quickly to expand bike lanes, bus-only lanes and pedestrian space as it tries to move away from car-centered planning. But critics say the city is not keeping pace with the safe, connected transit system people need before they can realistically leave their cars behind.
The debate is not simply about cars versus bikes. In Los Angeles, cars also serve as a public safety tool, a privacy buffer, a way to bridge the last mile to a final destination, and a key mobility option for seniors and people with disabilities. That is why some argue the city should build reliable public transit first, rather than making driving less convenient before alternatives are ready.
Under Measure HLA, approved by Los Angeles voters in 2024, city officials must install bike, pedestrian and transit improvements called for in Mobility Plan 2035 whenever they repave or improve streets. That means the redistribution of road space is no longer just a planning concept; it is now being carried out in practice.
Mobility Plan 2035 is meant to move Los Angeles beyond a car-only street design and toward a multimodal system that includes pedestrians, bicyclists, transit riders, seniors and people with disabilities. California has also changed how it evaluates transportation policy, focusing more on reducing vehicle miles traveled, or VMT, than on how long cars sit in traffic. Los Angeles adopted that approach a year earlier than the state deadline, but the article argues that the city’s efforts to reduce driving remain much more specific than its plan for what should replace it.
