Articles / Los Angeles-Long Beach, California

Credit:Mary Logan Barmeyer

Famous for urban sprawl, bumper-to-bumper traffic and seasonal smog, the Los Angeles region still has many challenges for integrating sustainable transportation across the region. Los Angeles ranks number one in the nation for traffic delay, by a large margin. The American Lung Association ranks Los Angeles as worst in the nation for ozone pollution, third worst in the nation for year round particle pollution and fourth worst for short-term particle pollution—all auto-exhaust pollutants. And despite possessing a widespread transit network consisting of regional rail, subway, light-rail, electric trolley buses, and motor buses, only 6 percent of the population use public transport.

These shortfalls, however, have prompted action including investing in clean fuel vehicles, facilitating car- and vanpools, making the downtown area more walkable and expanding rail services. In fact, L.A. “Building more and more freeways was an article of faith until the mid-80s,” says Metro CEO Art Leahy. Today, policymakers and Metro staffers alike “really do accept that there’s a problem with global warming, urban form and sustainability. There’s an almost unanimous perspective,” Leahy says, in favor of clean technologies and transit-oriented development.

1.4 million passengers ride the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s (Metro) buses, commuter trains and subways each day. More than 95 percent of households are within 0.25 miles of a bus stop or 0.5 miles of a rail station, earning Los Angeles high marks for transit access from the Center for Neighborhood Technology.

“We’re seeing changes that would have been inconceivable when I was a young adult,” Leahy says. “We’re are on the verge of becoming a walkable downtown. With rising gas prices, ridership just keeps climbing. It’s a strategic, economic issue; we’re preparing L.A. [for the future].”

State and local legislation dating from the early 1990s has helped propel transit improvements. Clean air has become a regional priority, cities like Los Angeles and Long Beach are pursuing ambitious greenhouse-gas emission reduction plans and California’s Global Warming Solutions Act committed the state to 25 percent reduction of overall greenhouse gas emissions by 2020.

Investing in Clean Fuels

Metro retires its last diesel bus in January 2011. Metro’s 2,228 buses run on compressed natural gas, a nonrenewable fossil fuel that burns cleaner than diesel. “We currently avoid emitting about 95 percent of cancer-causing emissions and about 50,000 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions per year” compared to 1990 levels, wrote Metro Senior Public Information Officer Dave Sotero in an email.

Metro has also taken steps to green its physical plant. Solar panels installed at three area bus divisions save the agency more than $1 million a year and achieve a greenhouse gas reduction equivalent to “taking 3,000 cars off the road,” Leahy says.

Some of Los Angeles County’s 88 cities operate their own municipal bus services, and local providers have likewise moved to boost ridership and invest in green technology. Nearly half of Long Beach Transit’s fixed route vehicles are hybrid gas-electric buses. California State Univeristy, Long Beach, pays Long Beach transit a flat annual sum to allow students to ride for free; since the partnership began, ridership has increased by over 300 percent.

Easing Congestion

As long as there’s more than one person in a vehicle, it qualifies to drive in one of Los Angeles’ faster-flowing carpool lanes. The county began setting aside freeway lanes for High Occupancy Vehicles in the ‘90s, and today L.A. County has one of the largest HOV systems in the country. Lanes that define HOV as three or more passengers offer the greatest benefit: the more riders within a car or van, the greater the vehicle’s fuel efficiency. Metro offers a rideshare website to help citizens find car- and vanpools; a commute cost calculator to point out the dollar cost of a daily drive; and offers a guaranteed ride home program to participating employers.  

“We’re also working on a congestion pricing project” for two major freeways, Leahy says. If the plan goes through, “it’ll be the biggest demonstration project [for congestion pricing] in the country so far.”

In 2008, county legislators passed Measure R, levying a slight sales tax in order to provide Metro with $40 billion to fund traffic relief projects.  The money will fuel an ambitious series of construction projects, mostly extending and connecting the region’s light rail system, and subway. A purple line subway extension would connect Los Angeles’ urban core with Beverly Hills, Westwood and the UCLA campus, giving the 300,000 area commuters another transportation option; an extension of the green line train would provide subway service to Los Angeles International Airport. Leahy estimates that the projects outlined by Measure R will lead to 77 million additional transit rides per year.

In the immediate future, Metro wants to push for better integration of buses, metro rail lines and metro link—and with regional systems. “We’re having discussions on how we can get better synergy” with transit agencies from San Diego all the way to San Luis Obispo, Leahy says. “There’s lots of opportunity for joint development in transit corridors.” A proposed high-speed rail line stands to make regional rail transit even more convenient. By finessing the details of connectivity and taking into account the larger regional picture, Metro is pushing the LA region forward.