What becomes of LA?
(4min read) Plus, EVs take off in UK.
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Our hearts go out to our many friends in Los Angeles.
As a climate disaster ravages Los Angeles, the U.S. Supreme Court says California may proceed with its lawsuit against the oil industry for covering up the risks of climate change. The disaster has prompted all kinds of finger-pointing over the city’s response, but it’s important not to lose sight of the long-term trends that put Los Angeles at risk, including a car-centric sprawl growth model that pushed more and more residents into dangerous environments. As LA rebuilds, who will qualify for home insurance?
In other news, CES 2025 featured a plethora of AI and autonomous driving tech but a near total absence of U.S. automakers, the U.K. sees a big spike in EV sales, Toyota readies the launch of “Woven City,” Hyundai unveils a low-priced electric car, Rochester moves ahead on highway removal, Massachusetts cracks down on people parking in bus lanes and we take a look at Denver’s wildly successful e-bike vouchers.
What you need to know
Gig economy relief for Angelenos: If you or someone you know is affected by the LA fires, dot.LA has a great roundup of resources. Among other things, victims of the fire are eligible for discount codes through Uber and Lyft and free lodging through Airbnb.
An uninsurable future in Los Angeles? As Los Angeles recovers, some are questioning efforts undertaken by the state to provide home insurance to those in wildfire-prone areas. Unable to buy insurance on the private market, hundreds of thousands of Californians have bought into a state-sponsored insurance plan of last resort. The plan, unfortunately, has nowhere near the cash on hand to cover the tens of billions of dollars of claims heading its way.
It’s not just climate change: In the New York Times, David Wallace-Wells writes that climate change is only one of the man-made problems that has put Los Angeles and many other U.S. communities at risk of devastating wildfires. Housing policies that encouraged sprawl and inattention to brush clearing and forest management are also to blame. Here’s hoping that we learn and do better.
California can sue Big Oil: As wildfires ravage Los Angeles, the U.S. Supreme Court says California’s lawsuit against major oil companies over climate change can proceed –– at least for now. California and other liberal states and cities have sued a handful of energy companies, accusing them of deceiving the public for decades about the threat of climate change. The oil companies had sought to have the case dismissed, arguing that climate change is a global phenomenon that should not be litigated by individual states.
EVs take off in UK: EVs accounted for 31% of new vehicle registrations in the UK last month. Total EV sales in December were 60% higher than during the same month a year before. And yet, automakers have still failed to hit the ambitious targets set by the government.
AI dominates at CES 2025: The annual tech show featured lots of new AI and autonomous driving technology, notably from Nvidia, which has announced partnerships with Toyota, Uber and trucking company Aurora Innovation. There was also a notable near-absence of U.S. automakers this year.
Vay expands remote-controlled car-sharing in Vegas: The German startup offers a unique service: rental vehicles that are delivered to customers by remote drivers. After a year of operating in Las Vegas, the company is expanding its fleet to 100 vehicles.
Toyota’s ‘Woven City’ is open for business: Five years ago Toyota announced plans to build a 175-acre prototype city at the foot of Mt. Fuji that would serve as a testing ground for new mobility technology. The company now says “Woven City” will launch this fall and is inviting scientists, entrepreneurs and others to live and work there.
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Rochester gets money for highway removal: A $100 million Reconnecting Communities federal grant is going to allow Rochester, N.Y. to move forward on a project to convert a sunken highway that cuts through the city’s downtown into an at-grade boulevard with bike lanes, green space and the like. The city completed a similar conversion in 2017, which freed up six acres for was soon developed into a museum, a hotel and a mix of residential and commercial space. The next phase of the project will free up 20 acres for development.
Hyundai’s cheap EV: The Korean automaker begins selling its most affordable EV to date, the Hyundai Inster EV, for $18,000. For now, it’s only available in Japan. Will it come to the U.S., where there are still very few affordable EV options?
Massachusetts takes aim at bus lane parking: Gov. Martha Healey signs a law that will allow transit agencies to use bus-mounted cameras to ticket cars parked in dedicated transit lanes.
Let’s hope the good news continued in ‘24: The Federal Transit Administration reports that transit ridership climbed 17% nationally in 2023. Let’s hope we don’t have to wait until the end of this year to find out what happened in 2024. Other positive trends the FTA report highlights include an increase in ADA-compliant transit stations and zero-emissions vehicles.
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What we’re reading
Do it like Denver: Mother Jones’ Clive Thompson delves into Denver’s e-bike voucher program, which 9,000 people have used to buy electric two wheelers in the past two years. A growing number of political leaders are recognizing that e-bikes could be “even more transformative than EVs,” he writes.
The challenge of transit in a multi-state metro area: The Beacon, a nonprofit news org in Kansas City, explains why public transit in the KC metro area is so “lousy.” Among other things, differences in laws between Kansas and Missouri make it hard to develop a unified funding system.
CoMotion's mobility goodness brought to you by:
Jack Craver,
Editor, CoMotion NEWS
jcraver@comotionglobal.com
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Climate Change? How absurd! Talk about a rush to judgment! Let's wait until the fires are out and a real investigation is completed! There are too many factors associated with this terrible situation to make any claim, and I think it's entirely unprofessional for a publication to make that claim at this stage!
There is already apparent evidence of human failure here that drastically contributed to the scope of this catastrophe, so let's wait until there is a complete and honest investigation!
Your early conclusion disqualified your publication as being honest and factual.