According to Alexander Bartolomei and Mitchell Kirby, the co-chairs of USC’s The Games Week, Wednesday’s panel on how Los Angeles transportation will adapt to accommodate the 2028 Olympics was the central piece of their event. 

“When we were creating the Games Week, the biggest question that everyone always had [was] ‘What the hell is transportation going to look like in 2028?’” said Kirby, a senior majoring in environmental engineering as well as pursuing a master’s degree in mechanical engineering. “‘It’s bad now, what’s going to happen then?’ So it became the most pressing question.”

The panel featured five speakers who discussed transportation changes — including new “air taxis” and thousands of additional buses — coming to L.A. in preparation for the Olympics. 

Sam Morrissey, panelist and vice president of transportation for LA28, said LA28 plans to take existing dedicated lanes, like carpool and toll lanes, out of public commission to serve as lanes for LA28-authorized vehicles during the Olympics.

“We will create these capacity challenges by taking those lanes away, but we will also show people that, ‘Wow, that’s a great way to get around, on a bus,’” Morrissey said. “People will be upset that they cannot use those lanes, but they will see these buses screaming through these lanes at full speed.”

Meghna Khanna, deputy executive officer of mobility corridors at L.A. Metro, said the California Department of Transportation will open dedicated freeway lanes for those involved internally with the Olympics and add a transit signal priority, a technique to reduce bus delays, to move personnel. She also said the city will implement around 2,000 buses for the games, more than doubling Metro’s current amount. 

Tosha Perkins, chief administrative officer at Archer Aviation, said the company will assist with transportation during the Olympics by providing aerial ride-share services with “Midnight,” an up-to-four-passenger, electric air taxi the company is building. 

She said the company expects the pricing model to be relatively expensive during the Olympics, but will gradually come down as the number of aircrafts they manufacture increases.

“We wanted to be able to provide something that was cost effective for everyone to be able to use,” Perkins said. “We’ve said in the early days, it [will] probably [be] similar to the price of an Uber Black on a regular day.”

Perkins said one of the reasons Archer Aviation wanted to be a part of Olympics preparation is because the company sees it as an opportunity to push for a faster launch of their product. Khanna agreed and said she is excited Archer Aviation can “[use] the Games as a leverage,” possibly to achieve environmental law exemptions.

“I think there are lots of collaborative ways that we are trying to get around some of those standard protocols by using the Games as the method,” Khanna said.

Morrissey said a fleet of roughly 1,500 buses and 5,000 Honda cars will be employed to provide transportation for the approximately 100,000 people working for the Olympics and Paralympics. Highland Electric Fleets will provide zero-emission electric school buses as part of the fleet, Morrissey said.

David Reich, deputy executive director of mobility strategy at Los Angeles World Airports, which operates Los Angeles International Airport, said SkyLink, LAX’s train system connecting its terminals, will likely be finished in time for LA28 and will reduce the traffic around the airport. SkyLink will run every two minutes from the terminals, Reich said.

Anuj Gupta, director at the Santa Monica Department of Transportation, said the department expects more than half of its bus fleet to be electric by the time of the Olympics, an increase from the current estimate of one-sixth. 

Gupta said Santa Monica’s tourist attractions, like the Santa Monica Pier and the beaches, can help address some of the capacity issues during the Olympics by diverging the visiting population.

“Having fan zones, activations [and] things all across the region, that means that those tens of thousands of fans that may be going ultimately to SoFi [Stadium] … won’t all be going at the exact same time,” Gupta said. “They may enjoy an event in Santa Monica and then take a bus or take the E-line to get to their next destination.”

Reich, who jokingly claimed himself to be the “current most-hated man in LA”, said Los Angeles World Airports will create curb spaces for buses to carry Paralympic gear and will “put their best foot forward in the accessibility area” for the Paralympics, which will occur 16 days after the Summer Olympics conclude.

“There’s [about the population of] two to three Super Bowls coming through LAX every day with the Olympics,” Reich said. “We’re going to be the first place that a lot of people see and the last place they see, and we recognize the importance of that.”