Why is LA traffic so bad?

This question is literally the reason I became an urban planner. I was sitting on the 405 in LA, driving from Encino to the Westside wondering why traffic was so bad and what I couldn't afford to live next to work.

What’s sad is LA and many other cities are perfect for biking and mass transit due to good weather. What a missed opportunity. Meanwhile, us up here in the northeast ride our bikes in the snow and wait for the bus in the middle of blizzards because our cities were originally started pre-automobile.

Sounds like they need to turn traffic despawning on 😁👍

Imagine if the federal government gave $9 for every $1 spent on public transport

Having driven in LA, NYC, and Toronto, I can assure you that road rage induced strokes are a thing.

My grandfather lived in San Fernando and had a side-hustle renting horses to movie production companies in the 30's, 40's and 50's. When cowboy westerns fell out of favor he pivoted and started renting fancy cars to the movies - same gig, different mode of transportation.

I'm European. I visited LA 3 years ago on a student exchange programme. I was advised I should definitely rent a car during my stay as public transport's not useful. I hated the traffic while there!

Answer: Single Use Zoning, Traffic feeding into large collector roads/boulevards, and lack of efficient mass transit thanks to the streetcar scandal

We see here an example of Parkinson's Law: when a system's capacity is increased, it's volume will increase to fill it.

Imagine if every freeway in LA had a tram or metro line running in the median, maybe at the cost of one lane in each direction. This would already be incredibly impactful. It might also work in other cities that were sliced through by highways.

Perfect timing. I just got back to LA after 2 weeks in NYC, and I’m already miserable lol.

Fortunately, Metro lines have been expanding within the city and county, but with limited commuter train service, it's still a nightmare to commute into the city from somewhere like Santa Ana or Van Nuys.

Shouldn’t’ve gotten rid of the streetcar system ... full stop. Meanwhile, way back in the 1970–80’s when land was relatively inexpensive they could’ve gone ahead building high speed rail rapid transit network ... even if they piggybacked existing freeways as right of ways for certain key routes.

I'm starting to dislike how I'm just getting into a video and then it ends abruptly, to be continued on nebula.

It's bad because cars cannot support mass transportation in a city setting. The solution isn't more lanes or more sprawl it's public transport. Requiring everyone to own their own vehicle to participate in society is ridiculous.

It's also the fact that there is no distinct destination where people drive during the rush hour. People work and study all over LA and traffic is moving slowly in all directions. I am not a city planner but I feel like this also has an impact on overall traffic.

beeing right now in Amsterdam, this looks like hell to me

Used to regularly drive 3+ hours from my job in Woodland Hills to my parents’ house in San Bernardino County. Would typically hit peak insanity somewhere between Arcadia and Upland

The perfect video to watch while sitting in L.A. traffic as you ponder this very question.

I'm from a small city down south and took a job with my company establishing some new accounts of ours in the LA metro area in 2000. I'd lived in Dallas for a few years, so I was accustomed to heavy traffic. However, nothing prepares you for LA. I was headquartered in Buena Park and on one of my off days I decided to venture into Hollywood and it's surrounding areas to sight see. This was on a Sunday. Once I decided to head back I found myself at Whilshire and the 405. I only had an atlas but saw the 405 would take me about 19 miles around to Beach Blvd in Orange Co and from there I could get back to the hotel in Buena Park. Took me nearly 5 hours. On a Sunday. Broke me from ever going back to LA.