Los Angeles hopes to captivate the world in 2028, when millions flock to the U.S. second-largest metropolitan area for the Olympics, but has achieved its goal of becoming a zero-emission transit city by then. You are facing an uphill battle.
In 2018, the city launched a 10-year plan to eliminate emissions from local passenger cars, buses and trucks by the 2028 Summer Olympics, and is currently more than halfway to the end date, but officials said was recognized by the participants of the Southern Olympic Games. There's a lot to do in the Southwest Conference, which begins Tuesday afternoon in Austin.
“This is no small challenge,” said Matt Petersen, president and CEO of the Los Angeles CleanTech Incubator, which is leading the county and city effort. “Billions of people will be watching the game around the world and millions of people will be in Los Angeles.”
This goal exceeds the transportation industry's greenhouse gas emissions targets by existing California law and the Paris Climate Accord by 25%, which were already major hurdles to meeting. California has set a goal of having 5 million electric vehicles on the road by 2030.
To reach this goal, the city and county aim for at least 80% of cars sold to be electric by 2028. Electric cars rely on renewable energy rather than gasoline for power. The city of Los Angeles also wants to convert taxis, ride-sharing, and public transportation to electricity-dependent systems.
Heather Reppening, L.A. Metro's executive director of sustainability policy, said the agency provides 1 million rides per day, an example of how the agency is embarking on a major overhaul. said. All 2,200 of the city's buses are in the process of being replaced with electric buses, but this is made more difficult because there are only two companies qualified to fill that large order, she said.
“[For the] “We expect to sell 10 to 15 million tickets for the Olympics,” Reppening said. “Countywide he'll have like seven Super Bowls in one day, with 3 million unique attendees.”
The city has a stadium to accommodate the event, but the issue is mobility and the temporary addition of low-emission buses where possible.
“We're talking about an Olympics without cars,” Reppening said. “We are talking about creating dedicated bus lanes. We are talking about a mobility hub and we have to rent about 3,000 buses. Everyone here is trying to create as many facilities as possible. You want to make sure you have zero emissions, but then you have to add things like temporary charging, so there's an incredible amount of dynamic activity in space. About sustainable transportation.”
California Energy Commissioner Patti Monahan said the biggest barrier to selling electric vehicles to areas the state wants is a lack of infrastructure and unreliable charging stations.
The City of Los Angeles will increase the number of remaining charging stations by adding 130,000 charging stations in single-family homes, apartment complexes, grocery stores, places of worship, and more in locations that are accessible to the entire community, not just the wealthy and middle class. We hope to overcome this problem within four years. county pocket.
Petersen said it's important for residents to change the types of public transportation vehicles they use, rather than just cars and trucks.
“We will not be able to meet our greenhouse gas emissions reduction goals without changes,” Petersen said Tuesday. “We have to get people out of their cars.”
The move will have a major positive impact on the skyline, which is among the most polluted in the country, primarily due to heavy vehicular traffic.
“We cannot turn the tide on the climate crisis unless we work across sector and city boundaries to put the brakes on dangerous pollution and jump-start a future of zero-emissions transportation,” he said at the time. said Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, a Democrat. he said in 2019. “This roadmap charts a path towards cleaner transport networks and lays out a blueprint for cities around the world to follow.”
Click here to read the full Washington Examiner article
Reppening hoped that an overhaul of Los Angeles' transportation infrastructure would show the world that big changes are possible, even under time constraints.
“One of the things I hope is that this game becomes a way to permanently change some of our travel habits in Los Angeles,” Reppening said. “Last Tuesday, we actually had an election, and about two-thirds of LA city voters voted in favor of a bill that would create a mobility plan for LA. … So LA wants something like this. For those who think they don't, I have this, we want them and we want a system that works for everyone.”
