On April 5th, USC Price School of Public Policy students had the opportunity to hear from a veteran and shaker in the field of public transportation, John Fasana. Fasana currently serves as the Mayor of Duarte, a city of 21,000 in the San Gabriel Valley, and also as Chairman of the Board for the LA County Metro. He first arrived at Metro back in the 1990s under a heavily conservative County government—much different than the County we have today. Over time, he has seen many changes at Metro, and is very proud of the Metro system that continues to evolve in LA County.

Fasana covered a variety of intriguing topics and answered many questions from students. Included in the talk were topics such as HOV lanes, which he noted he felt made sense in the 70's, but are now in need of changes given our ability to do real-time pricing. Fasana also felt that distance-based fares are something that need to be explored given the size and costs of transportation in LA County. Given the proliferation of smart phones and the use of apps to pay for services, he noted that Metro could do more to capitalize on this trend, and in fact would like to see the agency move away from cash fare payments altogether. Student questions included topics such as the possibility of the LA Metro moving to electric buses to which his response was that though there is a demand for Metro to immediately move to all-electric buses, but that their feasibility of needs to be explored more, and that such a move would not be likely in the near future.

About the Author

David Gardinier is a Public Administration/Urban Planning dual-degree student at the University of Southern California, who is interested in the intersection of transportation and social equity. He can be reached at: [email protected].