Los Angeles eyes car‑free Olympics for 2028 games
Los Angeles 2028 without cars? This is the vision for the time of the Olympic Games held by the city's mayor, Karen Bass, who took over the Olympic flag during the closing ceremony of the Paris Games. The most populous city in California plans to focus on public transport.
Mayor of Los Angeles Karen Bass speaks about "car-free Olympics." This would be a tremendous change in one of the most congested and crowded cities in the world, writes frontofficesports.com (FOS).
We're already working to create jobs by expanding our public transportation system in order for us to have a no-car Games. And that's a feat for Los Angeles, as we've always been in love with our cars. We're working to ensure that we can build a greener Los Angeles - said Bass, quoted by FOS.
American media are already comparing the plans to eliminate cars in Los Angeles to clean up the Seine, which cost nearly €1.5 billion. "Rzeczpospolita" calculated that this money was used to "replace sewer connections, install new purification systems, and construct a collector with a capacity of 20 Olympic swimming pools under the Austerlitz station." Despite this effort, the water quality in the Paris section of the river was poor.
Training sessions and competitions were postponed because tests showed the water contained too many E. coli and enterococci bacteria. It was extremely dangerous for the athletes.
Los Angeles Olympics without cars
What plan do Los Angeles authorities have to limit the number of cars on the streets significantly? The city plans to use over 3,000 buses that will run during the Olympics. A substantial part of the fleet will be borrowed from other American cities and will park at temporary stops—there will be significantly more of them. Additionally, there are plans to modernise the rail network and the airport.
Moreover, employers, especially large companies, are expected to consider switching to remote work. There may also be schedule changes to reduce traffic jams. FOS reminds that similar solutions were implemented during the LA Olympics in 1984.
According to Bass, "the Olympics are an opportunity to make transformative change." The mayor added that preparations for the games should benefit residents for decades to come.
Americans hope to sell over 9.5 million tickets - the same number of spectators attracted by the games in Paris. - We don't have an Eiffel Tower, [but] we have a Hollywood sign, we have incredible venues - summarised by Casey Wasserman, the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic organising committee chairman.
