{"id":410695,"date":"2026-07-24T12:01:06","date_gmt":"2026-07-24T12:01:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/410695\/"},"modified":"2026-07-24T12:01:06","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T12:01:06","slug":"la-mayor-bass-previews-fare-free-system-as-she-takes-the-metro-board-chair-gavel-for-a-second-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/410695\/","title":{"rendered":"LA Mayor Bass previews \u2018fare-free\u2019 system as she takes the Metro Board chair gavel for a second time"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Topline:<\/p>\n<p>    On Wednesday, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass kicked off her second tenure as chair of the Metro Board, saying she was proud of the way the agency had responded to the huge influx of soccer fans for the World Cup. She said the upcoming year was the most \u201cconsequential\u201d one in a generation to dispel the notion that the L.A. region is dependent on cars. <\/p>\n<p>Fare-free future: At the annual Metro State of the Agency event, Bass said she plans to \u201cdevelop a long-term financial strategy\u201d to eventually make the countywide transportation system fare free. She also said she wants to increase the current 80 miles of peak-hour bus lanes in the county to 100 miles by 2028. <\/p>\n<p>Bass transit riding habits: A spokesperson for Bass\u2019 media office said the mayor has taken Metro \u201con multiple occasions.\u201d The spokesperson said the mayor is a frequent bike rider and that she has \u201cparticipated in multiple CicLAvia\u201d events. On Thursday, at the first Metro Board meeting during the mayor\u2019s second tenure as chair, leaders will <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/metro.legistar1.com\/metro\/meetings\/2026\/7\/3518_A_Board_of_Directors_-_Regular_Board_Meeting_26-07-23_Agenda.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" data-cms-ai=\"0\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">consider pausing funding<\/a> for the region\u2019s open-streets events.<\/p>\n<p>        Keep up with LAist.<\/p>\n<p>If you&#8217;re enjoying this article, you&#8217;ll love our daily newsletter, The LA Report. Each weekday, catch up on the 5 most pressing stories to start your morning in 3 minutes or less.  <\/p>\n<p>Overall system safety: In her speech as vice chair of the Metro Board, L.A. County Supervisor Kathryn Barger celebrated a 22% decrease in violent crime on the system over the last two calendar years. \u201cI want it to get to zero,\u201d Barger said.<\/p>\n<p>World Cup shuttle safety: Metro CEO Stephanie Wiggins highlighted that there were \u201czero security incidents\u201d on the agency\u2019s special bus system that shuttled tens of thousands of people to and from SoFi Stadium <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/laist.com\/news\/los-angeles-activities\/fifa-2026-world-cup-los-angeles-roundup\" target=\"_blank\" data-cms-ai=\"0\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">during the FIFA World Cup matches<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Bus project hangs in balance: Bass said the agency\u2019s forthcoming bus rapid transit projects are \u201clandmark improvements\u201d, especially as the 2028 Games approach. One of those projects, a <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.metro.net\/documents\/2026\/04\/noho-to-pasadena_fact-sheet.pdf\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-cms-ai=\"0\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">19 mile-long<\/a> route from North Hollywood to Pasadena, could be delayed, though. In May, <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/laist.com\/news\/transportation\/metro-burbank-bus-olive-avenue\" target=\"_blank\" data-cms-ai=\"0\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Metro sued the city of Burbank<\/a> over its refusal to grant local construction permits for a part of the route. On Friday, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge denied Metro\u2019s motion for a preliminary injunction that would have required the city to grant the permits, jeopardizing Metro\u2019s plan to begin construction in Burbank on July 27. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Topline: On Wednesday, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass kicked off her second tenure as chair of the Metro&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":410696,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[30623,164504,37646,48,52,51,47,50,49,17708,4182],"class_list":["post-410695","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-bus","tag-bus-lanes","tag-chair","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-mayor-bass","tag-metro"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410695","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=410695"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410695\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/410696"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=410695"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=410695"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=410695"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}