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≡ INTEL REPORT ≡
There was a lot of discussion about money, transportation and the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games at Wednesday morning’s meeting of the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s Ad Hoc Committee on the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
A short presentation on the “Games Enhanced Transportation Service” – or “GETS” – included two mentions of funding the $2.015 billion project:
● Slide 4: “The funding for the GETS program is required from LA28, State/Federal government or other sources”
● Slide 7: “Confirm roles and responsibilities, funding sources and reimbursement with LA28″
During a detailed presentation to the six committee members, Metro Chief Innovation Officer Selita Reynolds explained the funding situation at present:
“What we have currently in our agreement with the organizing committee, in our term sheet discussions with them, it’s a description of roles and responsibilities. It describes Metro as taking ownership of the spectator and workforce transit and transportation system, pending funding.
“So we would absolutely need to be reimbursed and have certainty about that reimbursement before committing to take on that responsibility.” (Emphasis added)
Metro Board member and L.A. County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath followed up and asked:
“So would that include things like mobility hubs, first/last mile improvements, shade structures or pre-construction work?”
Reynolds:
“We consider all of that as part of this spectator and workforce transportation system, and it is included in our request to the Federal government. Both the pre-development work, the pre-design, environmental, all of that, as well as the construction of the facilities necessary to host the Games.”
Horvath noted that $17 million may be coming in the next budget cycle from the State of California. Metro Board member Ara Nazarian then asked:
“It’s a great plan, and I really appreciate the work that has gone into it. But, I am deeply concerned about the funding challenges. I’m a pessimist. What will we do if we only get $1 billion of this $2 billion estimate?
“Do we have a plan to melt down [the proposal]; I’m not saying shade structures aren’t important; clearly, they’re important. But do we have a core set of priorities that will be funded first and then as other money comes in, we fill out the entire picture?”
Reynolds:
“Yes, the request is very scalable. But I want to very clear about something: just because we don’t money to build a permanent mobility hub, let’s say, doesn’t mean there won’t be a necessary investment in that park-and-ride lot to make it function. It will just be temporary, instead of permanent and more lasting improvements.
“So there are those sorts of opportunities to kind of scale up and down and then the other thing I want to highlight is that as … the ops team are doing their work, it becomes really clear that with some partnership with the organizing committee, there are also opportunities to drive down the number of vehicles that we need by, for example, adjusting the start times of events, by 30 minutes, let’s say, in one direction or the other, or working collaboratively to share, for example, parking lots or real estate that they might have already been able to get under contract, and we’re also pursuing those kinds of conversations, and aggressive diplomacy in our term sheet discussions with them.”
¶
That was the key section of the meeting, but there was a lot of back story detail which went around it.
Metro Office of Strategic Innovation Senior Executive Officer Ernesto Chaves explained:
“Over the past year, Metro and LA28 have been working on a term sheet that will serve as a foundation for an MOU [Memorandum of Understanding] with LA28, focused on addressing our funding issues as we advocate jointly with them for funding from the Federal government.
“We’ve made significant progress on defining the roles and responsibilities assigned to each of the parties. Throughout this process, we remain committed to ensuring that Metro avoids undue financial responsibility, again, advocating for funding from the Federal government, or outside funding for the Games Enhanced Transit Service.”
Senior Executive Officer for Operations Joe Forgiarini is leading the GETS planning effort, and underscored the nature of this system and what it is being designed to provide:
“It’s basically that temporary network established to support transport for spectators and Games workforce. Again, we have a number of different types of service within that program of GETS … the main two pieces of that [first] the designated shuttles between Metro’s rail and bus networks to the venues.
“Some of our venues are fortunate to be directly on our rail and bus networks, others are remote from them, so we definitely have a large program needed to support them.
“The second one is park-and-rides; essentially Metro is taking on the role of replacing parking lost at the venues. Normally, these venues support a lot amount of parking in property; that’s all gone for the needs of the LA28 event arrangements. So we will basically take on the role of not just the transport of people, but the actual provision of parking for them.”
Forgiarini noted the depth of the planning work so far:
“At this stage, each venue has what we call a venue profile, so behind the [presentation slide] is hours and hours of work, developing profiles, which is basically an operating plan for each venue going into great detail of ride alignments, number of vehicles required, all the assumptions on how much these GETS operations will convey to and from the venue and the other modes that will help. …
“Just as a reminder, we are taking on this planning responsibility; we don’t, as was already mentioned, have a formal agreement to do that, but we can’t wait. This is an enormous task; we are happy to stand up and take on this coordinating role, but we are not doing it in isolation. We will work with our local transit operators, not just even within our own county, but even in adjacent counties, with many resources that we will bring in to support the Games program.”
He noted that schools of all types can provide some of the best options for park-and-ride locations, and bus depots, and even summer workers to help out. He said the response from the many schools contacted has been excellent.
He reiterated the estimate of 2,700 buses needed, about 6,000 bus operators – two needed per bus per day due to the long hours – plus 15 depots for maintenance, and 25 or more park-and-ride locations, plus staff to handle people loading and unloading at the various venues.
As to the budget of $2.015 billion, Forgiarini deadpanned, “it’s a pretty big price tag,” but pointing to the $668.1 million for acquiring buses, he observed, “this may be somewhat higher than it ends up being, if we are able to secure a lot of buses through donations … this would be worst-case, based on leasing them on the market. We have a lot of strategies to try and obtain those even through things like donations from our various fleets around the state and the nation to help support the program.”
He said that the last batch of venue announcements from LA28 could result in some cost reductions, since some of the sites are near existing transit facilities.
Asked about the number of buses committed to the program so far – against the projection of 2,700 needed – Chief Innovation Officer Reynolds said:
“[Metro CEO Stephanie] Wiggins has been working with her fellow transit agency CEOs across the country for the last few years, soliciting interest and participating in the borrowed bus program, and I want to make something clear, that if we were to borrow to lease a bus from another transit agency, we would expect that the personnel to come with that vehicle. So we wouldn’t be hiring 6,000 new [drivers] here, some of them would be coming with the vehicles from their home transit agencies, if that makes sense, because they are going to be the ones that understand those vehicles best; they know how to repair them, they know how to operate them, etc., which is the model for previous Games, in Salt Lake [2002] and also in Paris [2024].”
So how many committed so far: “Around 650.”
There was discussion of needing up to 3,100 buses – not 2,700 – but Reynolds explained that’s an all-in contingency total and the real needs should be less:
“So, 2,700 is our estimate, which we continue to try and refine, for the peak day for the peak number of events, for the peak hour. Most of the time, during the Games, we don’t need all 2,700 in operation.”
¶
A “Transportation Mobility Summit” with other regional transit agencies to develop more detailed plans for the Games Enhanced Transit Service is being put together for June.
Two motions for new programs were made, to research the costs and possibilities for a water taxi service between San Pedro (in the City of Los Angeles) and Long Beach, and yet another study of possible fan zone locations for 2028, preferably in area supported by public transit. These both passed by 6-0 votes for further study, with no commitments to action; the water taxi report is due back in 90 days, the fan-zone report in 120 days.
The discussions ran so long that the review and approval of a not-to-exceed contract of $42.04 million with the Mott MacDonald Group to provide engineering and support services related to the 2028 Games was approved with very little discussion, by 5-0.
It was noted, however, that the contract with Mott MacDonald is not for a defined list of services, but a task-based support program in which Metro can call on the company and its 27 subcontractors to provide services as needed.
The next meeting of the Ad Hoc Committee on the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games will be in September.
¶
Observed: The meeting was scheduled for only an hour and should have taken at least two hours to get deeply into the funding issues, which are of clear concern to the committee. There are some things which Wednesday’s meeting clarified:
● The GETS system is not likely to cost $2.015 billion, and that cost was constructed as a worst-case scenario.
● Metro’s hope is to get $3.2 billion in Federal funding not only to take care of its Olympic and Paralympic Games responsibilities, but to build a series of permanent improvements for which the Games are simply the excuse for the Congress to pay for them.
● LA28 can significantly reduce the cost of Metro’s GETS service and related 2028 with good cooperation on not just scheduling, but also spaces it controls in and around venues. And as committee chair (and Los Angeles County Supervisor) Janice Hahn noted at the start:
“Originally we were even talking about making the Olympics and Paralympics car-less, but I think we’re now leaning into transit-first.”
The truth is that for some venues, driving a car will be the best solution, just as is done every day of the year for those sites. But those details will only finally be settled once the funding situation is known and the scope of what Metro can really do is agreed.
All eyes now are on the U.S. Transportation Department’s reply to Metro’s $3.2 billion request, apparently due by the end of May or in early June.
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