News and Views: Wilshire's Subway Is Here: LA's Big Leap Under the Car Capital

In this episode of Transportopia News and Views we cover three major transport moves: Los Angeles opened new Purple Line subway stations under Wilshire Boulevard, New York City redesigned the Manhattan approach to the Brooklyn Bridge to separate cyclists and pedestrians and announced plans for a 10-mile bike boulevard in Brooklyn, and Denver advanced plans for bus rapid transit on Colorado Boulevard.

These stories show real momentum — built infrastructure arriving and planning progressing — improving safety, access, and alternatives to car travel across U.S. cities. Visit transportopia.org for show notes, links and podcast extras. And please like us wherever you get your podcasts.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Los Angeles opens a subway under one of America's most car-obsessed boulevards.

(00:04):
New York City separates bikes and pedestrians on the Brooklyn Bridge for the first time ever.
And Denver takes a major step toward bus rapid transit
on one of its most dangerous corridors.
Transportopia News and Views is next.
This is the Transportopia podcast, featuring engaging and sometimes humorous conversations

(00:32):
about transit's past, present, and future, with the people shaping it every day.
Now, here's Rick Lemie.
Hey everyone, I'm Rick Lemie.
Welcome to Transportopia News and Views, our bonus segment between full-length episodes
where we break down what's happening right now across public transportation.

(00:54):
Just the top stories.
What they mean and why they matter.
Let's get into it.
We start in Los Angeles, where a subway opened this week that was first proposed nearly a
century ago.
On Friday, May 8th, LA Metro opened three new stations under Wilshire Boulevard at La Brea,

(01:20):
Fairfax, and La Cienega, extending the Purple Line nearly four miles into
West Los Angeles and Beverly Hills.
Metro CEO Stephanie Wiggins called it more than a line, it's a leap.
And the agency offered free rides across the entire system, bus, rail, and bike share,
through the opening weekend.
Two more sections extending the line through Century City and Westwood are planned to open

(01:41):
next year.
Quick take, when the ribbon-cutting happens at the Peterson Automotive Museum, a literal
shrine to car culture, you know something has shifted in Los Angeles.
Next, to New York City, where Mayor Mahmoud Dhani is fixing one of the most famous bottlenecks
in American active transportation.
The city announced a full redesign of the Manhattan entrance to the Brooklyn Bridge,

(02:03):
separating cyclists and pedestrians for the first time, with a new dedicated two-way protected
bike lane along Center Street.
The numbers tell the story.
Nearly 30,000 pedestrians cross the bridge daily, and daily cyclists more than doubled,
from around 2,600 to over 5,600, after a protected bike lane was added to the bridge
itself in 2021.

(02:23):
Work is set to finish before the FIFA World Cup in June.
Quick take, when you build it, they come.
Now, build it right.
And still in New York, because the Mahmoud Dhani administration is making National Bike
Month count, the mayor joined families this week to announce a redesign of the Bergen
and Dean street corridors in Brooklyn, 10 miles that will become a bike boulevard, prioritizing

(02:46):
cyclists and pedestrians while keeping local vehicle access.
The safety case is strong.
Protected bike infrastructure has been shown to reduce deaths and serious injuries for
all road users by more than 18 percent, and for pedestrians by nearly 30 percent.
Public engagement is open now, with the first phase targeted for 2027.
Quick take, bike infrastructure isn't just for cyclists.

(03:09):
Safer streets work for everyone.
And out West, Denver moved a major bus rapid transit project closer to reality this week.
Colorado DOT held its second public open house for the Colorado Boulevard BRT project, studying
options to bring high-quality transit service from Hamden Avenue to East 40th Avenue.
No final alternative has been chosen, and public comment is still open.

(03:31):
Quick take, the best transit projects fix more than one problem at once, and this one
has the potential to do exactly that.
This week's through line is momentum.
Real, physical, ribbon-cutting momentum.
A subway opens in Los Angeles.
Bike infrastructure goes in across New York.
Denver moves towards BRT.
These aren't just proposals or studies.
They're things happening in the world right now, even as the broader federal funding environment

(03:55):
remains uncertain and contested.
The work continues, city by city, corridor by corridor.
That's your Transportopia news and views for the week of May 11, 2026.
Next week, we'll be back with a full-length episode.
Stay tuned for that.
And thanks for listening to Transportopia, the intersection of transportation and utopia.
Be sure to like us wherever you get your podcasts.

(04:18):
Visit transportopia.org for show notes, our blog, and coming soon, a link to my Transportopia
sub-stack, where you can pledge your support for Transportopia.
I'm Rick Lemine.
Goodbye, everybody.
Transportopia, Transportopia, is it just a dream for us?

(04:40):
Transportopia, Transportopia, will we ever find that world?
Fewer cars and safer streets.