Los Angeles under 'pressure' to deliver 2028 Games as Olympic flag arrives

From traffic to homelessness, the California city has 'a lot of work to do' to be ready, says mayor

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass holds the Olympic flag after athletes and officials arrived at Los Angeles International Airport. AP

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said the "pressure" is on to deliver a memorable Games in 2028 after the Olympic flag arrived in the city on Monday.

Bass landed in a plane emblazoned with palm trees and the logo "LA 2028," and crossed the tarmac holding the five-ringed banner, accompanied by several US athletes.

LA now has four years to put together an Olympics capable of rivaling the widely praised Paris edition in a notoriously traffic-clogged metropolis.

"We feel the pressure to make sure that our city and our region is prepared and ready," she said. "We have the flag now. It's on us. We got a lot of work to do Los Angeles."

A timely reminder of potential unique challenges came moments before her plane landed as a 4.6-magnitude earthquake shook Los Angeles.

"Making sure that we are prepared for events like an earthquake" will be key to infrastructure plans, she said. "But also now we have climate events that we never thought about impacting our region, that we have to be prepared for as well."

Still, the biggest challenge will inevitably be transport in a city notorious for its grid-locked traffic. In Paris for the closing ceremony last weekend, Bass outlined plans for Los Angeles to deliver a "no-car Games."

In a city reliant on private vehicles, where massive freeways crisscross the urban sprawl and traffic jams are a daily inevitability, that pledge is ambitious.

Los Angeles does have a subway network, but at just five-and-a-half lines and relatively infrequent service, it is tiny for the region's 10 million residents.

Authorities plan to bring in 3,000 buses, borrowed from all over the country, and to create dedicated road lanes for them.

Public transport will receive priority over private cars, which will not be banned, although not all Olympic sites are expected to have parking.

The last time Los Angeles hosted the Olympics, in 1984, many residents left the city, averting a traffic nightmare.

The city's giant main airport, infamous for its accessibility issues, will, at least, finally be connected to the metro train network.

An automated shuttle, long in the works, is due to open by 2026 when Los Angeles will host the opening match of the football World Cup.

Los Angeles is counting heavily on its reputation as the world's movies and entertainment capital. In a "handover" segment of the Paris closing ceremony, Tom Cruise parachuted with the Olympic flag into Los Angeles near the famous Hollywood sign, which he then redecorated with the Olympic logo.

Los Angeles is also a US sporting powerhouse, with numerous major teams and state-of-the-art stadiums.

But beneath the Hollywood glitz, Los Angeles has an enormous homelessness crisis. Some 75,000 people lack housing, in a city where real estate is among the most expensive in the world.

Since arriving at City Hall, Bass has made this long-standing issue a priority. A vast shelter programme has recently shown signs of progress. The total number of homeless people fell slightly in 2024, for the first time in six years.