Santa Monica’s Savvy Multimodalism Shows Moxie

Santa Monica certainly has a wave of transportation wonders taking flight. Like many cities they seem to be trying out a heaping of everything: bike share, a mix of bike lane treatments, a new rail line, neighborhood greenways, a pedestrian action plan (incorporating Vision Zero), a new people-friendly promenade/protected cycletrack where the Expo line terminates and of course they always have the hard-to-miss Big Blue Bus!

Just in the last six months they have launched both Breeze bike share and opened the Expo rail line to downtown Los Angeles which cuts travel times from an hour and a half by bus to 50 minutes. (Personal note: after spending the day shooting this story I endured a 2 hour and 15 minute bus ride back to L.A.'s Union Station. So at rush hour it can be even more tortuous than that!) The Breeze bike share was my first experience with the smart bike program and it was easy to use and comfortable.

So come see just some of the many options the city has employed to make getting around as easy as possible whatever mode you choose. Thanks much to the wonderful Cynthia Rose from Santa Monica Spoke who made my first visit there a joy by giving me the grand tour.