The 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles will be “car-free games,” Mayor Karen Bass said on Sunday. Traffic was a major issue for the organizers, she explained. “We are already working to create jobs by expanding our public transportation system so that we can host car-free games,” Bass said.
“And that’s an achievement for Los Angeles because we’ve always been in love with our cars. We’re working to create a greener Los Angeles.”
One way the city will do that is by encouraging citizens to work from home – a reminder of the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Bass added that there were concerns about traffic during the 1984 Games and people were “terrible that we were going to have terrible, terrible traffic” – but those fears never came to fruition.
“But I tell you, in 1984 we didn’t have the technology we have today. COVID taught us that you can work remotely,” she explained.
“I think the way it should work is to meet with the city’s largest employers and talk about staggered work hours, something that was done 40 years ago when we didn’t have technological cell phones and personal computers,” she continued.
“I think, frankly, it’s not going to be difficult this time. I think the workforce, probably around the world, certainly in our country, is struggling with remote work right now. So I think there might be some employers that we could say, ‘Could you work from home for 17 days?’ It’s going to be a lot easier because we went through COVID, so people will have a reference point in recent history of how to do that.”
The sports venues will only be accessible by public transport, which the organisers of Paris 2024 managed to achieve thanks to the city’s existing transport infrastructure. Since LA is not designed according to this concept, the city will use 3,000 buses from across the USA.
Ultimately, says Bass, “the car-free Olympics are also about getting people not to drive.”
Like Paris, Los Angeles must develop a plan for its homeless population of about 75,000 in the county and 45,000 in the city. Bass said, “We’re going to make sure Los Angeles residents are housed. That’s what we’ve done so far, and that’s what we’re going to continue to do.”
Bass was also accompanied by Casey Wasserman, who serves as chairman of the 2028 organizing committee. Wasserman explained that the upcoming election in November will likely have some influence on the games. No matter who wins, he says, “I just want to remind people that this is about red, white and blue. This is not about red and blue. We all march behind the same flag, the same name, the same anthem, and this is something that will bring our country together.”
