Sounds like a great way to get a free car!

Buy the car, park it in your driveway for the next six years and use the cash incentives to make your car payments!

Maybe make your metro usable so not driving would be easier. It's kind of impossible to get where you need to go without a car in LA

Parking your car for so long is not without risk though.

Might need a new car battery as it will slowly drain.

Parking brakes might get stuck.

Tires might develop flat spots.

No one's stopping a car owner from starting the car during those 5 weeks.

$600? That's a joke.

More people taking transit will help put pressure on improving it.

If it gets people to try it, its good.

No one is stopping a car owner from doing that, but many will forget. And they will be unpleasantly surprised and might not join such a challenge again. Hence my heads up

Sounds more like you're discouraging people from participating.

No, why? I live in a country where traveling by public transport is the norm.

Looks like its only a one time payment and only 2000 households. So its just a PR stunt. 2000 is enough for a news story but not enough to effect anything.

You can't see how your comment pointing out only negatives about participating in this program is discouraging?

I'm glad you're supportive of it. There's ways to maintain one's car in this program.

This is the second phase of the program. It's already been successful.

Building on a successful pilot in Santa Monica, Metro is expanding the One Car Challenge to all of LA County in Summer 2026. This time, we’re inviting approximately 2,000 households to participate — and for the first time, one-car households are welcome.

Who couldn't use $600 right now?

I was pointing out the negatives of leaving a car parked for 5 weeks. Sure you can read it differently, depending on your mindset.

All I had replied is that it is possible to maintain a car while participating in the program. So as not to discourage people from trying it if they were interested.

Glad you cleared it up that you're supportive of the program!

That's not enough to replace the utility of a car for most people in LA.

For 5 weeks?

Do I have to buy a car to get the 600? And move to LA.

The struggle is real.

The battery can be trickle charged with a $15 device if needed. Those other things are not an issue over just five weeks.

I agree but I think it’s much easier the other way around. First improve the infrastructure, then incentivize people to use it.

I have to admit that I'm unsure how LA does it, but up in Washington the voters have to approve more funding for transit. Which is difficult if voters feel like transit doesn't work well to begin with and then it's an uphill battle.

Double-edged sword, I'll admit.

it's not a 'pr stunt', it's a research study.

That's a chicken-egg problem.
A double-edged sword is something that could hurt as much as it helps if you're not careful.

Hah you're right! I'll blame it on my lack of coffee thus far this morning ;)

Except those people will tell other people how it went... For better or worse.

Anything but subsidizing transportation directly hu?

That $120 a week for every resident should just go directly into better and free transit.

Hell I would bet most car infrastructure is subsidized at a higher amount per week per person.

I don't know with $120 a week that some good grocery shopping there.

Tell me you never went on vacation without telling me you never went on vacation.

LA is a tough one for this because it's so spread out. San Francisco has a famously amazing BART system but the city is also very tiny compared to what most people think of as "LA".

Depending where you live and where you go, LA Metro can be useful. I use the Metro quite often, and I know the bus system is pretty expansive as well. They've also consistently been adding new lines and stops including a way to get to LAX via Metro. So it's not like improvements aren't being made.

because it's not 'right now'. You either get $120 a week or the 600 after five weeks. Emergencies don't just wait for you to have the money for them

Should try a double-sided coffee :)

I wouldn’t kick $120 a week out of bed, that’s for sure.

That’s literally my weekly grocery budget.

You can just charge drained batteries or jump start cars and they'll charge on their own!

You also don't HAVE to use the parking brake if it's on your own property and if it's maintained at all, it won't get stuck anyway. I've seen them freeze shut in the winter, but LA isn't known for -30C winters, particularly this time of the year.

Flat spots from a few weeks of car being parked will go away in a few minutes of driving.

I've left cars stored for several months at a time and nothing bad has happened. Disconnected negative battery terminal so there's no starting issues either

I think they're researching how big of a congestion tax they need to get a certain percentage of people to stop driving. Giving someone $600 is very similar to not taking away $600.

Maybe instead of paying to take the bus, we should pay people to take the bus. You're putting up with a lot of hassle to avoid taxing the roads with another car. Maybe you're owed a few bucks for your community service.

Or just make it free and pull the money from anti-homeless infrastructure.

My message was meant for people who do not take these things into account. As there are many of them.

Also, you can definitely permanently damage your battery by letting it discharge too far. This is due to a process called hard sulfation.

I've been on plenty of vacations but never one that lasted 5 weeks.

These are two separate comments.

The metro is usable.

It’s still impossible to get around LA without a car. It’s a very large spreadout city.

Is this not the basic premise for taking fees from fines and car related registration to reinforce public transit and proper city planning?

What society isn’t invited to think about is how cars are so heavily subsidized to the point where it drains communities instead of supports them. From gas, roads, lighting, these costs are downloaded to every single person without much thought about any other option.

LA, what's wrong with you?

It's 5 weeks, it's not a long time. You need to take these things into account when it's multiple months.

yeah, but then the homeless would use it.

Yes, but it's more a matter of scale. And most cities still charge bus fare. It costs cities 10x as much money to support one car commute as one bike commute, but you would be hard pressed to find a city that put even an equal amount of dollars into bike infrastructure as car infrastructure.

Bonus

Also roads are typically paid for by new road building subsidies... Meaning more roads and no maintenance.

LA needs mass transit first

Famously amazing BART system

Haha….hahahahHahahahaHAHAHA

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

…you spend too much time on Internet forums and not enough time riding transit lol

Edit: I see the “Your lived experience is invalid” people are showing up today.