So, let’s imagine how you might have felt nearly twenty years ago when Move LA convened a coalition at the LA Cathedral that enabled the campaign for and voter approval of Measure R, a half-cent sales tax for transportation investments, in 2008. Then, with Measure M in 2016, voters doubled down on R. These measures now provide LA Metro with more than $2.4 B in annual revenue to invest mostly in expanding, modernizing, and operating LA’s transit system.

Imagine you, like me, witnessed how those victories early on provided LA Metro with the resources needed to complete a light rail line to Santa Monica, the Foothill Gold Line to Pomona, the K-Line to LAX, and what Metro called the Downtown Regional Connector to enable a one-seat light rail ride from Long Beach to Pomona and Santa Monica to Whittier.

And imagine the shock when Metro’s ridership dropped to 360,000 riders in April 2020 during COVID, but through the ongoing and stable resources of Measures R & M, Metro restored transit ridership to more than 1 million rides per day—the second-highest in the country and more than 80% of pre-COVID ridership.

But hold on to your hat! LA County Metro under the steady leadership of CEO Stephanie Wiggins is heading toward an OMG transit system moment culminating with the May 8 opening of a significant extension of the Wilshire Subway, the proposed line that inspired Measures R & M in the first place.

Over the past six months, the Metro Board under the leadership of chair Fernando Dutra, has been setting this dramatic moment up with a remarkable series of commitments, advancing over $40 billion in transit capital projects: a subway line through the Sepulveda Pass connecting the San Fernando Valley to the Westside, an extension of the light rail line from the South Bay to Mid-City and Hollywood, a light rail extension in the South Bay, and a run-through track at Union Station for faster regional connections.

Each of these projects, no doubt, motivated thousands of LA County voters to support Measures R & M. Now they will begin to see their aspirations realized.

The Sepulveda Pass subway line is projected to cost $24 billion and will be one of the largest infrastructure investments in the region’s history. This ginormous project is expected to serve over 120,000 riders a day and reduce travel time between the Valley and the Westside to about 10 to 20 minutes compared to the current 40 to 80 minutes by car.

Now that is how to transform traffic in Los Angeles.

The LinkUS Project will improve regional transportation on Amtrak and Metrolink, converting Union Station from a stub-end to a run-through station, eliminating the need for certain trains to stop in Union Station and reverse to exit, increasing system capacity and efficiency. LinkUS is crucial for increasing connectivity between Metro rail and bus, regional Amtrak and Metrolink train service, and making Union Station ready for future high-speed rail service.

The K Line North, once built and operating, would mean - get this - a one-seat, one-hour ride from LAX to the Hollywood Bowl. It would expand access to jobs, housing, cultural destinations, and medical destinations such as Cedars-Sinai Hospital. This K-line northward extension will cross four major east-west rail lines and six of the region’s ten top bus corridors, becoming the backbone of the Metro system.

As Denny Zane, convener of the Measure R and Measure M coalitions back in 2008, would say: “connectivity is the secret sauce to transit system success.” Los Angeles, the home of car culture, will have the longest (today!) and highest ridership light rail lines in the country.

We have ambitious goals—doubling LA ridership in a decade to 2 million rides per day by 2036 —and these projects will get us there. But more than that, they create hundreds of thousands of union construction jobs and generate hundreds of billions in economic activity in LA County.

Wow, can transit in LA County really get more exciting than this? Actually, yes!

On May 8, 2026, Metro will be opening the first three new stations moving west on the “OG” Wilshire subway, once called the Purple Line, now called the D-line. New stations will open at Wilshire & La Brea, Wilshire & Fairfax, and Wilshire & La Cienega.

It was the original subway extension idea ‘towards the sea’ that inspired the coalition that grew out of a January 10, 2008 convening at the LA Cathedral that ultimately convinced the Metro Board that winning was possible and that the time was now. Out of the dialogue at Metro and timely leadership from Board members Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, and former Assemblymember Richard Katz, a half-cent sales tax measure was placed on the November 2008 ballot. And despite turbulent economic news (just like today), the voters of Los Angeles County gave Measure R a 67.1% thumbs-up.

Eighteen years later, 2026 will be forever known as the Year of LA Transit Progress.

Eli Lipmen is the Executive Director of Move LA, a transit, affordable housing, and clean air advocacy nonprofit based in LA County.