Transit California sat down with Eli Lipmen, Executive Director of MoveLA, which advocates for a modern, efficient transportation system in Los Angeles County..
Transit California: You have served as the Executive Director of MoveLA since 2022, and you’ve been a staff member there since 2017. What are MoveLA’s current priorities under your leadership? 
Number one is implementation of our ballot measures, which we've passed over the last 16 years, including Measure R and Measure M, which is on public transportation. That really means engaging with LA Metro on everything from service to capital projects to active transit projects like their Bike Share program, to their joint development programs and affordable housing and how we develop that near transportation.
Priority number two is Move California, which is our statewide sister organization, which is all about building a rider-based transit justice movement statewide so we can advocate for more funding for public transportation service.
Lastly, we are planning to do another ballot measure in 2026 in the South Coast Air Quality Management District region which includes about 18 million residents. If we don’t reduce our air pollutants to federally designated levels, we are under the threat of losing federal transportation dollars, and that's a scary outcome. We are working hard to identify a source of funding locally that would get us on track to reduce those pollutants. That means getting rid of diesel buses, trucks, locomotives.
We also have two premier events in the year. One is our big policy conference, which we hope to do in April. And then SoCal Transit week, which we launched in 2024, and plan to do again in 2025 at the end of September or early October.
Transit California: One of your notable accomplishments with MoveLA was to successfully advocate for and help to secure a permanent ‘GoPass’ program for LA Metro which provides fare-free transit for 1.3 million LA County K-12 and community college students. Can you talk about why you chose this population and the process for working with LA Metro to bring about this change?
We've looked at the research, and travel habits are “sticky” in the sense that getting people to get out of their car takes a little bit more effort. It's not that we're addicted to our cars, but we get into these habits. We have two options as advocates for transit: We look for people who are at a point of inflection, meaning they've moved or they've changed jobs or something in their life has changed, like marriage or a baby. And you also look at populations, and students are really a great population, because typically, they don't either have a driver's license or don't have access to a car. We have this incredible opportunity with students to get them to be on the path of transit ridership, early and young. And what that means is just getting them used to how to navigate the system, how to pay for the system and use the system. What is the best way to get somebody who's new to something to try it out? Give it to them for free.
Now we’ve pushed for over a decade, not only in LA County, but statewide for student transit pass programs. We've seen huge success, not just for the agency, which has seen month-over-month gains in ridership, but for all of the school districts, who are benefiting tremendously: it means less school bus service that they have to run. It means students are there on time, and they're also there at school, which means more formula funding and that leads to better achievement. And everybody really benefits from this. What we found with LA Metro is the cost keeps getting less and less expensive every year for the agency because of the way that they've structured it and the way that it's funded. It's been a net benefit for everybody here in LA County.
Transit California: You were a key proponent of the successful Measure M campaign in 2016, which voters approved with over 70% support. The measure added a half-cent sales tax to fund a variety of County transit activities. What tactics did you and other supporters use to help build such support for this measure?
Sales taxes are challenging in California because you need to get a two-thirds majority – or as we've also found, 50 plus one, if you do a citizens’ initiative. For us, it was about building a big and broad coalition of supporters that included the labor movement, the business community, small businesses, affordable housing folks, immigrant communities, disability advocates, senior advocates, and many others. AARP was one of our biggest supporters - California was the first sales tax measure that they had supported on the state level, and they put in over a million dollars into the campaign, because they wanted to ensure that older Angelenos could age in place.
That broad coalition, with the support of the region, went through a process with LA Metro to ensure that every sub-region also had a preferred project in the mix to ensure that we had buy-in from across all the different important constituencies and across all the different geographies in L.A County.
The other thing that we focused on was the volunteer aspect. You can't just have a lot of mail and TV ads. You really need to engage folks who would benefit from this and get them and the endorsing organizations and their members to call out to other people. It created real energy for the campaign. It created a real set of support, and it's really what got us over that threshold of two-thirds.
Transit California: You serve as a board member of ClimatePlan, which was formed by 11 varied non-profit organizations to improve land use and transportation planning decisions in California. How do ClimatePlan members collaborate with state transit agencies?
ClimatePlan sponsors and supports legislation in Sacramento. Consider us allies [with the Association], especially when we're talking about more resources for public transportation. One thing that we're engaged in is developing more affordable housing and supporting public transportation. We're also engaged in this conversation of how we reallocate funding more towards public transportation in certain areas versus expansion of general-purpose lanes, climate action plans for transportation infrastructure, and the state Transit Transformation Task Force. We're reforming the TDA [Transportation Development Act], and we want to engage with the Association in those conversations as well.
Transit California: You were a part of organizing national advocacy efforts to achieve a more equitable Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, and you were honored by the TransitCenter for this work. What are some of the components that you helped secure in this law, and how did you do it?
We're part of what's called the National Campaign for Transit Justice. Organizations like us in states across the country advocate for transit riders and for more transportation service operations. We have this national network, which is fantastic because we can reach elected officials across the country. But here in California, we have the largest Congressional delegation, and we thought it was vital to engage them in a conversation statewide about our needs, as customers and as transit riders. Our big effort was to mobilize that to be in conversations with Caltrans and CalSTA about their priorities for the state, and with transit agencies. And, honestly, there was some disagreement there. We really want to see more funding for transportation operations. In fact, we have gotten over 140 co-sponsors for a bill that Representative Hank Johnson from Georgia has that would increase transportation operating dollars by 20 billion dollars per year across the country. That would result in a 40% increase in operating dollars for the LA region.
We have not really agreed with the Association or transit agencies on this because a lot of transit agencies don't like to take federal dollars for operations. We're open to that conversation - but we as riders want to see both our federal and state governments step up with more operating dollars for transit operations. And we know that that is a priority element, something that Association members support. We'd love to continue that conversation as we think about the next infrastructure bill which, already authorization is just around the corner.
Transit California: You are a co-chair of the South Los Angeles Transit Empowerment Zone (SLATE-Z), which is the “backbone entity” for the federally designated South LA Promise Zone, one of twenty-two designated zones of high poverty around the country. How do you advise and help steer this organization towards its goals?
MoveLA serves as co-chairs for the transit work group with LA Metro. It's a real partnership, and it has been since the beginning, and that's been fantastic. And the goal is to increase affordable access to public transportation for low-income residents and students. We started brainstorming how we would improve that. It was an insurance model for transit, where everyone gets a pass, everyone pays, and everyone gets to ride any line anytime. We were able to get a philanthropic grant from the Schmidt Family Foundation to fund one class of 400 juniors at a high school in South LA to get those passes for a year to test it out.
We had to deal with a lot of data issues between LAUSD and Metro, but because of this partnership, they were able to resolve that because both had an MOU [memorandum of understanding] with SLATE-Z that said we had to work together. We launched that pilot, and then that became the impetus behind the GoPass program because it caught the attention of the LAUSD Board, and the superintendent loved the idea. We were able to accelerate that program and expand it to make a permanent GoPass program. It started and was incubated by SLATE-Z team, which really speaks to the power of that organization.
Transit California: In November 2024, you played a role in the Association’s 59th Annual Fall Conference & Expo, where you proposed the topic of the panel, “Creating a Safer System Without More Enforcement,” and you served as a speaker on the panel. What was your experience with developing the panel and as a speaker at the conference? What would you tell potential speakers who are considering participating in such an event?
We thought that this would be an interesting topic. We proposed it and worked with the Association to identify some additional speakers, which they're very helpful on putting together and then also putting to get together the pre-conference. I thought it went well for us. We think that the more ridership you have on the system, the safer your system is going to be. So, really focusing on ridership programs, but also reframing the way you think about your transit system as a place of refuge and safety and sanctuary by activating spaces and job programs like in Japan or Berlin or Singapore, or being a place where people can go to find help, right? There's good lighting, there are personnel, there are support services, rather than a place where people feel that they should go away from because they don't feel supported.
As we face the new Administration, we want to ensure that public transportation is seen as a safe space for everybody, regardless of your immigration status, regardless of your race or your background, regardless of your gender identity. We want to communicate to everyone that transportation is for us all and that you won't feel threatened by other riders or by law enforcement by virtue of being on the transit system. I think that's really vital.