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LA's Garcetti: 'We must reimagine our future'

Mayor emphasises possibilities of post-Covid mobility in keynote speech at CoMotion LA
By Adam Hill November 18, 2020 Read time: 1 min
Garcetti: 'Now more than ever, we need to innovate our transportation system'

Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti called his city the "transportation technology capital of the world" in opening remarks at this week's three-day CoMotion LA digital event.

“The focus in this unprecedented moment is on moving essential workers to their jobs, delivering essential services to people who are homebound by a pandemic, and creating slow streets in our neighbourhoods," he said.

"There’s no question, now more than ever, we need to innovate our transportation system, nationally, globally and locally. We need to double down on our commitment to not only recover from this pandemic but not to return to what was before – reimagine, instead, our future."

He emphasised that that meant "addressing the current cascade of crises and the ever-present threat of climate change together".

Garcetti highlighted the future mobillity work of Urban Movement Labs, saying that it is could "knit together the fabric of our transportation system as a low-noise, all-electric, accessible and affordable option for getting around".

This work would be part of his “broader vision for a safe, sustainable, multimodal transportation system in Los Angeles: transportation that puts equity front and centre, and is accessible to everyone".

The event, which features a variety of presentations and discussion sessions, runs until 19 November.

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    What were the major impacts of Covid-19 on transportation?

    At the peak of the shutdowns, passenger use of airports and mass transit was down 90 per cent. Use of roads by private vehicles was 60 per cent lower and use of commercial vehicles was down 10 per cent. Public transit was down 76 per cent and had to keep operating to get essential workers to their places of employment.