Los Angeles housing & transit crisis
Public transport in LA is crucial, especially for the less affluent. The vast majority of users are poor (72%, according to data from Metro transit agency, November 2018). This month, our friend and professional colleague Martin Glastra van Loon took us on bus line 20 along Wilshire Boulevard. Things aren’t going well for the bus (and other public transport in LA and throughout California, for that matter). Rent and property prices have been rising sharply for years. Research now shows that this increase is accompanied by a decline in public transport use. In short: the housing crisis coincides with the transit crisis. Gentrification reduces bus use. At the Wilshire/Normandy metro station, Martin could have transferred from his bus to bus line 260, which serves the Vermont Square neighbourhood: an example of a highly gentrified area where, according to the Census Reporter, property value increase between 2012 and 2017 correlated with a 24% decline in public transport use. This is what happens when poorer and less prosperous citizens are pushed out of their city by (much) richer people who apparently don’t like public transport.
Bus line 20, Wilshire Boulevard, passing corner Rodeo Drive
Wilshire Boulevard at Ridgeley Drive
Source: Favas.net & CalMatters
Images: Martin Glastra van Loon
Gentrification reduces bus use. See also:
https://www.lightrail.nl/better-bus/