LA MEMORIAL COLISEUM -- The Measure M campaign announced that 25 percent of Rams fans are taking Metro to games at the Coliseum, accounting for approximately 20,000 people who are off the roads and freeways and not clogging parking lots. Metro has been running extra trains on the Expo Line and has been increasing bus service for the games.
"Measure M will reduce traffic for our daily commutes and during special events by breaking freeway bottlenecks and by creating a countywide, interconnected transportation system," Metro Vice Chair and L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti said. "25 percent of Rams fans taking Metro to the games means 20,000 fewer people clogging freeways and parking lots, and that means less traffic for us all. It shows that the success we've already seen by extending the Expo Line to Santa Monica is only increasing, and it shows what we can achieve by voting yes on Measure M."
"Whether you're going to a ball game, planning a Saturday 'date night,' or going to the Music Center and nearby museums, Measure M will make it convenient for your and reduce traffic and parking congestion for us all," Garcetti added.
Rams COO and EVP of Football Operations Kevin Demoff said of the benefits that Metro usage brings to the team: "Riding Metro has become a hallmark of our Rams community. We're tackling an age-old problem for sports teams: how do you get people to stay until the end of the game? Take away the traffic." Demoff also added that the Crenshaw/LAX line stop near the Rams' future stadium in Ingelwood is an important part of the fan-access equation there.
Metro Board Member Jackie Dupont-Walker said: "Measure M is important for seniors. That is why AARP made a historic endorsement."
David Kersh, a leader in the Carpenters union, said: Measure M will create "hundreds of thousands of good middle class jobs."
Matt Gaines a leader in the Operating Engineers union, said "Measure M will create jobs with dignity, with healthcare and with a pension."
Measure M will ease congestion and add convenience for sports fans, museum-and-theater-goers, and others attending events all across L.A. County. USC fans also use the Expo line, and 255,000 thousand baseball fans used Metro's Dodgers Express line. Staples Center is also in close proximity to multiple rail lines.
The Los Angeles Times endorsed Measure M, saying "L.A. County residents need alternatives to sitting in soul-crushing traffic. Vote yes on Measure M."
Measure M will reduce the time people are stuck in traffic by fifteen percent a day. According to the non-profit Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation, it will create 465,000 new jobs. Measure M will ease traffic immediately by repairing potholes and repaving local streets and roads in each of L.A. County’s 88 cities. It will keep senior, disabled, and student fares affordable and will provide critical earthquake retrofitting for overpasses and bridges.
A recent Texas A&M analysis found that traffic congestion costs the average commuter in our region $1,711, including from wasted fuel and lost productivity. All together, drivers in our region lose 622 million hours stuck in traffic a year, for a total cost of $13.3 billion, according to the analysis. The L.A. County population is projected to increase by 2.3 million.
Measure M will modernize L.A. County's aging transportation system and build a twenty-first century transportation network that expands subway, light rail, Rapid Bus, Metrolink, freeways, and highways. Measure M adds and accelerates transit lines and finally ties them together into a comprehensive system that will work with an improved freeway and local road network.
Measure M is endorsed by a bipartisan coalition of elected officials like Supervisors Mark Ridley-Thomsas and Mike Antonovich; the L.A. County Business Federation and the L.A. County Federation of Labor; the AARP; the Sierra Club and the American Heart Association.