josh vredevoogd
@jawshv.bsky.social
data & creative at @streetsforall.org 🚌🚲🌳 joshvredevoogd.com
Los Angeles' public safety approach in a nutshell: $20 million settlement vs. $250K for crosswalk safety upgrades added too late to make the difference for this young boy and his family.
Los Angeles to pay $20 million to teen who lost leg in Boyle Heights hit-and-run
Joshua Mora lost his leg at 13 years old after being hit by a motorcycle in a crosswalk. He sued the city, saying officials knew the intersection was dangerous.
latimes.com
the council charter reform votes have resulted in some very strange schisms
So why can't we have people in charge of transit that really truly believe in it? Read my deep dive on what to consider when rethinking transit governance -- and the one change we could make right now to get true transit champions.
How Do We Get Transit Champions on Transit Boards?
Sound Transit's board is dominated by elected officials who don't use the system they oversee. But it doesn't have to be that way.
ericacbarnett.substack.com
great write up on E line delays - signal preemption advocacy is one of my favorite projects to emerge organically out of the SFA slack
Oren Hadar@futureis.la · last mo.The E Line takes 47 minutes to go from DTLA to Santa Monica - often slower than driving. Ten years ago, it took 46. This is not an accident - it's a policy failure. A group of volunteers, including me, decided to do something about it. 🧵
If you have time today, we advise also calling the offices of the members of City Council's Rules Committee to tell them which reforms you want on the November ballot (*especially* Council expansion, RCV, and LAPD accountability!) Phone numbers below & in alt text:
fun fact, Metro can preserve all the outdoor seating on Broadway if they get rid of about 14 parking spaces
josh vredevoogd@jawshv.bsky.social · 2mo agoWhat's wild is that Metro is doing all of this to preserve street parking in what is probably the most walkable and transit rich area in all of LA. If you remove the parking, then you can keep the entire pedestrianized seating area
Metro is finally working on their Broadway "quick-build" BRT (5 years ago this was supposed to be a 2 year project). Overall it'll be a massive improvement for transit riders, but in DTLA Metro is proposing shrinking pedestrianized space which is a big issue
kinda astounding how close Seattle is getting to LA's total rail ridership (4.8m to 6.3m) that said by the time the next major rail project opens in Seattle we should be able to ride the D Line, Southeast Gateway Line, and NSFV light rail
Yonah Freemark@yonahfreemark.com · 2mo agoSeattle's light rail & streetcar lines carried 4.8 million riders in April—a 44% increase above March, after Link Line 2 was extended to connect Seattle & Bellevue across Lake Washington. Seattle's light rail & streetcar lines are now the most-ridden in the nation, above LA, Boston, or San Diego.
Los Angeles is failing people with disabilities. When the city neglects the basics, everyone suffers, but the people who need these services most are hit the hardest. (1/2)
Let's hope the city comes up with more concrete ways to honor disabled athletes, like a commitment to fixing sidewalks and installing curb ramps — as megaevent czar Paul Krekorian said, an accessibility plan is coming. I'd also like to note the length of Olympic Boulevard vs. Paralympic Way
Hey all, I’m Greg, and I’m an LA-based artist that’s passionate about transit, so I illustrate posters with the hope that it inspires others to give transit a try.
🚨 LA's park system has dropped to 93 out of 100 U.S. cities — our worst-ever rankings in the Trust for Public Lands' ParkScore index. Last year we were 90th. The year before that we were 88th. A decade ago, we were 65th. Go here for the disheartening data: www.tpl.org/city/los-ang...
Woohoo! @metrolosangeles.bsky.social credit/debit card payments are now live!!!
imo this is one of the cooler transit projects happening in LA right now that hasn’t gotten much attention. Metro should be doing far more low cost/high reward upgrades to the existing system
Streetsblog L.A.@streetsblogla.bsky.social · 3mo agoMetro G Line busway viaducts are taking shape - check out Streetsblog's construction photos la.streetsblog.org/2026/05/13/e...
Airbnb is the biggest funder of a PAC spending $1,000,000 to keep Karen Bass in office. Right there in the fine print. Bass delivers the policy Airbnb wants. Airbnb spends millions to elect Bass. Angelenos pay higher rents. Pay-to-play. In the open. With receipts.
Today’s jubilant D Line opening really showed the promise of positive urbanism. People are starving for community and human-scale cities. The lawns of LACMA across the street were packed with people picnicking and listening to the jazz band, the neighborhoods were popping, people seeing our D line
Nazarian submitted a banger motion to tax country clubs in LA extra to make up for Prop 13 and spend the funds on street infrastructure + other stuff quick math this would raise about $300m for the City and triple property taxes for most private golf courses cityclerk.lacity.org/onlinedocs/2...
cityclerk.lacity.org
Ananda Coomaraswamy famously said museums are where we proudly display the artifacts of a way of life that has become impossible. A new mass transit subway stop nextdoor to a car museum makes a terrific A1 photo in today’s LA Times, by Carlin Stiehl.
LA has built 57 lane miles of protected bike lanes since 2020 Top five districts: CD4 - 15.1 lane miles CD11 - 7.2 lane miles CD14 - 5 lane miles CD5 - 4.7 lane miles CD9 - 4 lane miles
MacArthur park will soon be closer to UCLA than student housing in Palms. We’re going need a lot more housing along the D Line.
josh vredevoogd@jawshv.bsky.social · 3mo agocurrent 720 rapid bus service overlaying the D Line Extension. Trip times between Ktown and Westwood will go from ~50 minutes to less than 15 minutes
Bringing back this map I first drafted a year or two ago to show how mindblowing fast the D Line Extension is going to be. Time to start adjusting your mental model of LA because she's shrinking Stations are spaced on a grid where each 'tick' represents one minute of travel
Wild how building any sort of rail infrastructure takes years if not decades of public outreach and environmental review and legal risk but cutting service, which literally puts people in cars, can happen in an instant with minimal oversight and no public input.
California Transit Nerd@catransitnerd.bsky.social · 3mo agoMetrolink is permanently cutting service originally planed to be temporary given their funding challenges tied direct to member agencies like OCTA and LA metro cutting funding as costs rise The state needs to step in and substantially fund regional and intercity rail service youtu.be/QIFzCjI7vPQ?...
some days LA hits you on the head for imagining living anywhere else
not sure why the D Line Extension gtfs data is live today but look at that travel time 👀
Karen Bass was only been present for 1/3 of Metro Board Votes last year
Metro and L.A. looked at the right of way on Vermont - some of it more than 160 feet wide (former rail corridor) and found that in 160+feet, they could not find one inch to dedicate to safe bicycling. Really.
