Los Angeles People's Transportation Plan

Public transit

Pilot or new project, program, or initiative (testing or implementing a new idea)

The design of Los Angeles’ public transportation system currently does not meet transit riders’ needs. Transportation agencies propose plans and transit riders are not the catalysts to create those plans themselves. Beyond showcasing transit proposals to the public through community engagement plans that are not transparent, Los Angeles lacks ways to elevate community voices in envisioning what transportation can look like in the region. There is a need to build the capacity of organizations to have organized transit riders that have the skills to propose plans that rely on their expertise as actual users of LA’s public transportation system. There is currently no long term transportation vision that is led and proposed by transit riders in Los Angeles that centers their experience and input in public transportation planning.

The Los Angeles People’s Transportation Plan will be a leadership development tool and school that builds the capacity of community members to intervene in the transit planning system that impacts their lives. ACT-LA is positioned to lead this plan as a coalition that has led successful campaigns that have resulted in the expansion of transit oriented community policies in Los Angeles city and county, the establishment of the Transit Ambassador Program, restoring bus service during the COVID-19 pandemic, and other programs to improve public transit in LA County. By the time the Olympics come to Los Angeles, we will have a published People’s Transportation Plan to be used as a pathway that guides the improvement of permanent infrastructure and transit plans for the everyday Angeleno transit rider. Before coming up with this plan, we need bus and transit riders to understand transit planning processes and how decisions are made at both transit and public agencies. Therefore we will be developing curriculum, organizing transit riders that are interested in participating in a people’s transit planning program, implementing the program to train two or three cohorts, and working with these community experts to come up with the long term regional proposal for transit in Los Angeles. 

In the long-term, Los Angeles County will have a mature popular education school that enhances and builds the transportation expertise of the community members. This model can serve as an example for other regions to support their own communities. Offering people-centered transportation planning solutions result in a more responsive and reliable system that addresses the climate crisis and can result in better health outcomes and cleaner air in high trafficked areas. Transit riders are already envisioning and calling for improvements such as shaded bus stops, frequent service, and better lighting that provide safety and efficiency to their commutes. As experts that understand the needed public infrastructure improvements, Los Angeles County can be transformed with a public transportation system that has people-centered -not car-centered - public infrastructure.

We define and measure success by having at least 2 cohorts successfully complete our proposed people’s transit program during 2026. From these community experts, we aim to continue their engagement to steward the People’s Transportation Plan. We aim to have active participation from at least 4 lead ACT-LA member organizations to develop curriculum and involve allied experts in the region. Our goals for this proposal is also to strengthen our member engagement and coalition structure during this grant cycle where member organizations are able to connect their community member bases to ACT-LA’s coalition spaces. This will allow us to solidify a regional organizing transportation strategy that is building capacity at the organization level and also among transit riders themselves. In one year, we aim to have completed the curriculum for our transit planning program, identified at least 20 participants and have a coordinated effort to launch our people’s transit planning program.