Why Traffic Is So Bad In Los Angeles

Los Angeles consistently ranks among the most traffic-clogged cities in America. The county has been trying to reduce its traffic for decades and nothing has worked. Many researchers and economists suggest charging people for using the road in a system called congestion pricing.

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Why Traffic Is So Bad In Los Angeles

[jascrandom]

Another thing to consider: Height restrictions, parking lot requierements and single family housing zones. These all force the city to expand horizontaly rather than verticaly, which makes public transit less cost-efective, which forces people to use cars instead.

[jobshadow]

We have created the need in our cities to have to drive everywhere through bad zoning (seperating where we live from where we work and buy things), parking minimums, and lack of density

[SamNicJohn]

"Having good public transit doesn't reduce congestion, look at new york" What is that crappy & selective argument? That's basically saying that public transit has no impact on congestion. If we were to destroy all public transit in New York and force everyone in a car, it wouldn't impact congestion?! Jeez...

[codex]

In what way does transit not reduce congestion?
Every person in a train is a person not in a car. Every person in a bus is not a person in a car. Every person on a bicycle is not a person in a car.

[WhatIsThis-zqhk]

"Most of the time when we talk about reducing congestion, it means I'm gonna get in my car and it's gonna go faster."
There's your problem. By this metric, Tokyo has terrible traffic, and yet very few people in Tokyo complain about traffic because they walk/ride a train for most trips.

[bollweevil]

If you build a car culture, then you’ll have lots of cars🤷🏼‍♂️
What’s not to understand?

[jwt]

Replace every carpool lane with a train track, and place train stations at every interchange.

[laurenconrad]

As a native New Yorker, I feel like if you have to drive everywhere, what’s the point of living in a major city? At that point you might as well live some place rural.

[piccalillipit]

*Why Traffic Is So Bad In Los Angeles?* Because you made it un-walkable, un-bikeable, and encouraged everyone to buy cars with massively subsidised Gas costs [$12 a gallon in the UK now]

Then you built 16 lane highways and made everything drive through, the public transport is sh!t to none existent - and you are surprised people use their cars for EVERYTHING.

[mohammedsarker]

This is why we need to build or expand public transit in cities across America

[Marchanthof]

It does not matter how much you build for the car, eventually your streets will end up being clogged. Cars just take up too much space. Building less dense cities might give cars a bit more space, but travel times will only increase because the distances will become greater too. Plus, spread out cities make it almost impossible to let people bike or build a good public transport system. The only option is indeed to create alternatives. Here in Amsterdam, for every trip within the city I can take the car, bike or take public transport, and so does almost everyone else. Yes, traffic can still be bad here. Because on an almost empty street, the car is almost always the fastest option so people will keep using it. However, because there are alternatives, many people will prefer taking public transport or their bike, resulting in a better quality of life in the city.

[mehrshadvr]

My friends are from Japan and they came here to work at a university. They are in Chicago and they say public transportation is crap here. In Tokyo they said train comes every 2 minutes and you don't have to walk far to a station.

[rsybing]

I've driven through LA and New York (and have seen car commutes in Tokyo). Both are headaches but I can definitely get through New York quite a bit faster than I can get through LA. Maybe mass transit doesn't eliminate congestion but a robust system helps a fair bit, and I think that's where LA is lacking.

[pingu]

The ONLY way to fix traffic is to provide good public transport and cycling and walking alternatives. There is no other way

[MrAndrebroussard]

A part of the solution to traffic congestion is making our cities more livable. Improve the infrastructure, lower crime, improve inner city schools, provide safe & efficient mass transit, provide affordable housing and parks & recreational facilities.

If you provide these things than folks wouldn’t want to run to the suburbs. Which adds to the horrible congestion.

If folks felt safe in the city they will stay. If folks have good schools for their kids they will stay in the city. If there are clean parks and other green spaces than folks will stay in the city. If there are good, clean, and efficient mass transit, people will stay in the city.

[schizo]

Have you ridden mass transit in LA? Waiting for a bus in downtown LA was one of the scariest moments in my life next to being involved in a home invasion robbery. The actual bus ride was just as bad. Now I understand why people drive everywhere in LA.

[TaskSwitcherify]

Compare LA (where I lived) to one of the many European or Asian mega-cities (where I also lived), and you'll see that zoning, lack of proper public transportation, and dependence on cars (vs. scooters & bicycles) lead to this problem. The solution is more affordable housing closer to the workplace, better zoning laws, more robust public transportation, and more willingness from employers to allow remote work!

[Rommie]

When I visited NY a few years ago I was impressed by the subway system

Every few blocks there would be an entrance to a subway station. It was so convenient

[TuanNguyen-uqgz]

There are two major reasons that can explain this situation: First, LA zoning is terrible as everyone knows. Second, homeless crisis is still a major problem in LA, which scare people from choosing public transportation system as they're afraid their safety is not guaranteed. I believe that the improvement of safety in public transportation is essential to completely solve LA traffic congestion. Otherwise, there is such no parents allowing their kids to take a bus on evenings and early mornings.

[seeranos]

The definition of congestion as “I’m going to get in my car and it is going to go faster” is the classic example of car-focused thinking. All people care about is “Can I get where I want to go with relatively low effort and time, and can I do what I want when I get there.” Focusing on getting cars to places ignores how that fundamental human want can be fulfilled by safe bicycle infrastructure, public transport, and multi-use-and-dense development.