Los Angeles’ Car-Free Olympics Is Possible – If We Let The Private Sector In

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Los Angeles wants to host a car-free Olympics in 2028. The idea is ambitious, progressive — and by most accounts, impossible. The conversation so far has focused on why: not enough public funding, not enough infrastructure, not enough time. But here’s what’s missing: the private sector.

The reality is, LA will not suddenly become a public transit utopia in four years. Metro’s expansion plans are slow-moving, budget constraints are very real, and efforts like the monorail and bus rapid transit lanes are still mired in bureaucratic limbo. But there’s a viable, immediate way to make a car-free Olympics a success — one that doesn’t rely on multi-billion-dollar infrastructure overhauls: bikes and electric bikes.

LA’s traffic nightmare isn’t just about long commutes; it’s about short, high-density trips in congested areas. During the Olympics, most spectators won’t be traveling from Malibu to downtown — they’ll be going from hotels to venues, restaurants to fan zones, last-mile distances that cars clog and bikes thrive in. Cities like Paris and Amsterdam have already proven that bikes and e-bikes can transform urban movement. LA, with its wide boulevards and sprawling layout, should be leading, not lagging.

But for that to happen, the private sector needs to step in. The tech, mobility, and advertising industries have the money, the innovation, and the incentive to make a massive deployment of bikes and e-bikes a reality. My company Upway, which refurbishes and resells e-bikes, picked LA for a reason as its second US market to launch in. And we aren’t the only ones in the mobility space thriving in LA. What if, instead of treating startups as side players, the city invited them — alongside incumbent businesses — to be core infrastructure partners for the Olympics?

The playbook is simple: let private companies flood key areas with bikes and e-bikes, build temporary infrastructure for storage and charging, and in exchange, give them a branding opportunity unlike any other. Imagine Nike-sponsored bike depots, Uber-backed mobility hubs, or Red Bull-branded e-bike stations strategically placed around the city. The marketing ROI from millions of global spectators — and the ability to prove at scale that their solutions work — makes this a no-brainer investment for companies in transportation, energy, and consumer brands.

This is how LA actually pulls off a car-free Olympics. Not by waiting for slow-moving public projects, but by leveraging the innovation engine that the US is known for: startups. The same country that gave the world Uber, Tesla, and Bird should not be treating micromobility as an afterthought. LA, home to the entertainment industry and one of the most valuable advertising markets on the planet, is perfectly positioned to turn this into a model for future global events.

The city has a choice: fight an uphill battle against traffic with half-baked transit plans, or embrace the private sector’s ability to build, deploy, and fund a real solution. A car-free Olympics isn’t impossible — it’s just waiting for the right players to be let in.

Marta Anadón Rosinach, General Manager US, Upway: After spending 6+ years leading Uber Eats in Europe and the US, Marta decided to jump into the world of electric micromobility. She heads US operations for Upway, a global network for refurbishing and reselling e-bikes. Backed by Sequoia with $70M in funding, Upway is making cities cleaner and easier to navigate by increasing access to a sustainable and affordable mode of transportation.

Photo by Emanuel Ekström on Unsplash