LADOT Supports Students' Return to the Classroom

LADOT is committed to getting students back to school with reliable and safe transportation options. To assist students in their return to school, LADOT will continue to provide free transit for K-12 and post-secondary students, administer the city’s school crossing guard program, and improve safety in school zones through the expansion of the Safe Routes to School L.A. program.

To reduce transportation barriers, LADOT Transit is pleased to currently offer free DASH bus service for all passengers. LAUSD and other students are eligible for continued fare-free service through the DASH to Class program by applying for a Student Reduced Fare TAP card. LADOT encourages students to obtain a Reduced Fare Tap card by filling out and submitting a K-12 Student Reduced Fare TAP card application, which is available online at taptogo.net, at Metro Service Centers, and at LAUSD schools. LADOT Transit reminds all passengers that masks are required for boarding transit vehicles. For more information, students and their families are encouraged to visit ladottransit.com/studentsridefree.

To ensure the ongoing safety of students as they ride, bike, and walk back to the classroom, LADOT will deploy crossing guards to prioritized locations across Los Angeles. LADOT crossing guards will provide traffic guidance at designated street intersections, allowing for a safer, calmed environment for students and their families as they travel to and from school. The city crossing guard program — jointly administered by LADOT's District Engineers, Traffic Control, and Safe Routes to School program — uses needs-based analyses to direct safety improvements and personnel to school zones. LADOT currently employs more than 300 crossing guards at 290 locations across Los Angeles. For information about the crossing guard program, please visit ladot.lacity.org/crossingguard.

Providing transportation improvements and educational information for local students, the Safe Routes to School L.A. program aims to increase the comfort, safety, and convenience of those who travel along routes to and from Los Angeles schools. Since the closure of LAUSD schools in March 2020, Safe Routes to School L.A. has been awarded $22.38 million from the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) Active Transportation Program for neighborhood street improvements at nine local schools, completed a comprehensive redesign project at Esperanza Elementary School in Westlake — for which the program received the American Society of Civil Engineers (ACSE) Metropolitan Los Angeles Branch Community Improvement Project of 2020 Award — and has hosted a variety of virtual projects and safety events to assist students and their families as they prepare to return to school. For more information about the Safe Routes to School program, please click here.

L.A. Al Fresco Extended to Year's End

To provide ongoing assistance to businesses as the COVID-19 pandemic continues, the City of Los Angeles has extended L.A. Al Fresco through December 31, 2021. An outdoor dining program, Al Fresco provides healthy spaces for local eateries to serve customers by expanding dining areas into parking lanes, driving lanes, and adjacent private lots. LADOT assists in the administration of Al Fresco by managing the reapportionment of transportation spaces into open air dining areas, and by providing street barriers to protect restaurant customers and delineate dining zones. Prior to the program’s extension, Al Fresco was set to expire at the end of August 2021.

For details about L.A. Al Fresco, including how to file a program application, please click here. To facilitate the process of Al Fresco’s extension, program participants are requested to please update their use authority certificates via the program application portal. (For information on how to download a new certificate, see the video in this link.) Those with additional needs for assistance are requested to please contact alfresco@lacity.org.

For updates about the city’s COVID-19 response, please visit coronavirus.lacity.org.

LADOT Releases New Transportation Study

On Friday, July 30, LADOT released a new landmark study, Changing Lanes: A Gender Equity Transportation Study, and announced a new pilot program for on-demand stops for its DASH service. 

As a comprehensive examination of our city’s transportation system, Changing Lanes identifies barriers for women who depend on public transit, and will serve as a useful tool for our city as it seeks to achieve gender equity across department operations. LADOT commissioned the study with the explicit objective of prioritizing equity in transportation planning and design. By gathering data that pertain to the unique experiences and needs of women navigating Los Angeles’ transportation system, LADOT has committed itself to addressing female residents' needs at every stage of the planning and implementation process.

The full results of the study are currently available for public viewing in both English and Spanish.

CicLAvia Returns This Sunday

This Sunday, August 15, CicLAvia will make its much anticipated return, hosting its first open streets event since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The upcoming event, scheduled to take place in Wilmington, is the first of three planned for the remainder of the year, which will include one on October 10 in Downtown Los Angeles, and another on December 5 in South Los Angeles.

For more information about CicLAvia's return, please visit ciclavia.org.

This Week in Photos:

LADOT's fleet of zero emissions all-electric buses continues to roll out new vehicles to operate along DASH routes across the city. Last year, Los Angeles made the largest purchase of such vehicles in U.S. history, ordering 155 zero emissions all-electric buses to better serve Angelenos.

LADOT by the Numbers:

From Changing Lanes: A Gender Equity Transportation Study, released last month by LADOT. To view the study, which includes additional informational graphics, click here.

Last week, LADOT joined Los Angeles City Council District 7 Councilmember Monica Rodriguez to commemorate the launch of a new DASH route in Sylmar. which is the latest transit improvement in the city’s major service expansion plan.

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