DSA-LA Mass Transit Campaign
Campaign Summary + Demands
The consequences of car dependency are felt more strongly in Los Angeles than anywhere in the country. Poor air quality causes asthma, respiratory disease, and shortened life expectancy for Angelenos. Pedestrians and cyclists are hit and killed by cars at alarming rates. The climate crisis, fueled in California primarily by automobile emissions, is creating hotter summers and more frequent fires, floods, and mudslides that impact working-class Angelenos first.
Yet, there is cause for hope: public transportation.
Los Angeles is the first major American city undergoing large-scale transit expansion since the 1970s. There will be a major system expansion nearly every year until 2028, opening up convenient transit access to over a million Angelenos.
The time is ripe for DSA-LA and the DSA-endorsed wing of LA City Council to steer the transformation of LA public transit into a public good that works for us all. Our campaign has two demands to help make it happen:
- LA Metro Board will create a permanent system of free public bathrooms at major transit stations, bathrooms that will be:
- built and maintained by union workers;
- included in the design of all future Metro lines; and
- funded not by a shift in resources away from transit operations, but by the elimination of wasteful spending on fare collection, redundant policing contracts, and freeway widening.
- LA City Council will pass a citywide implementation plan and budget line to fully fund the completion of the Mobility Plan 2035 to deliver faster transit and safer streets. Said plan and budget:
- should end the understaffing of critical departments, which are the main bottleneck in clean transportation projects;
- exempt clean transit and mobility staff positions from hiring freezes;
- require publication and tracking of a timeline to complete Mobility Plan elements by 2035; and
- raise additional funds dedicated to Mobility Plan implementation through new transportation taxes/fees on polluters, dangerous vehicles, corporations and the wealthy
Get Involved
There are a number of ways you can get involved with our campaign:
- Sign up to receive email updates from the campaign
- Attend an upcoming campaign event