L.A. trying harder to kick its passenger car habit
Bus, rail, bicycle use accelerates
LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles embodied America’s love affair with the automobile in the last century. In this one, it’s trying to kick the car to the curb.
The city that put drivethrough restaurants on the map has doubled bike lanes to 292 miles and expanded light rail by 26 percent in eight years. Bus and train ridership is increasing while the number of passenger cars registered in Los Angeles County has declined.
The traditional gasoline-powered car is under assault from those and other options: electric cars, hybrids and car-sharing plans such as the one operated by Avis Budget’s Zipcar. Los Angeles, the largest market in the biggest U.S. state for vehicle sales, could be the ultimate test of the conventional car’s future.
Even though the newcar market has rebounded from the recession, Los Angeles County had 28,000 fewer passenger cars registered in 2012 than five years earlier, according to California Department of Motor Vehicles data. Boardings on the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s buses and trains increased 4.7 percent to 41.3 million in May 2013, compared with May 2011.
Under outgoing Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, a Democrat who accelerated funding for light rail and subway systems, Los An- geles is working to reach almost 115 miles of track, from the current 88 miles, by 2036.
Villaraigosa, 60, who was elected in 2005, championed a 2008 ballot measure that raised sales taxes in Los Angeles County, with the projected $40 billion in proceeds earmarked for rail lines, expanded rapid bus service, widening highways and adding carpool lanes. Twenty percent of the revenue was devoted to highways. The city has added bike lanes and is making plans for a bikeshare program similar to New York’s Citi Bike.