Not anytime soon, Zocalo Public Square panelists Denny Zane, Nate Baird and Geoff Wardle agreed, but it’s important that drivers understand that every bike they have to share the road with means there’s one less car. Under Mayor Villaraigosa the city built 123 miles of bike lanes for a total of 421 miles and now LADOT is trying to connect them up, and buffer them to make them safer. Denny Zane pointed out that voters who passed the Measure R sales tax for transit in 2008 by a 2/3 majority and very nearly passed Measure J last November (sales tax measures require a 2/3 supermajority vote) are probably willing to step up and fund more bike and pedestrian projects because they'll understand how well bikes and transit work together. Denny says that the next sales tax campaign — likely in 2014 or 2016 — could include a dedicated funding stream for bike/ped projects, and that a share of new transit project budgets could also be dedicated for first-mile/last-mile connections.

Nate Baird is the LADOT’s bicycle coordinator; Geoff Wardle is the Art Center College of Design’s director of advanced mobility research; and we all know Denny Zane. The panel was moderated by LA Times transportation reporter Laura Nelson.

Read the Zocalo blog post here.