The Brief

It's been nearly three weeks since we found out Californians decisively passed Proposition 50 to redraw the state’s congressional district maps. The Associated Press called the vote within minutes of polls closing, but the vote won’t become official until after results are certified in early December — and yes, votes are still being counted with about 12,000 to go statewide.

In the meantime, we’re keeping tabs on potential legal battles, the status of the national redistricting arms race, and how Prop. 50 is already shaping choices for the 2026 midterm elections.

Here's what's been going on so far.

Texas’ map is getting reviewed by the Supreme Court

• What happened: A federal court ruled that Texas cannot use its recently redrawn congressional maps in the 2026 midterm elections, finding it was racially gerrymandered. The Supreme Court has now taken up the case, and has temporarily allowed the map to stand while it figures out which map Texas should default to as the case goes under review.
• Wasn’t this the map that led to Prop. 50 to begin with? Yep. A quick refresher: Over the summer, President Donald Trump encouraged Texas officials to start an unusual mid-decade redistricting process to help Republicans gain five seats in the House of Representatives in the 2026 midterms. After Texas’ state legislature produced those new maps, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced that California would respond with a similar move to redistrict in favor of Democrats and neutralize Texas' map — which eventually became Prop. 50. 
• Does the case affect Prop. 50? No. But there's a separate challenge underway in California. More on that below. 
• What does this mean for the House elections in 2026? If Texas winds up having to use its older map drawn in 2021 for next year's midterms — either as a default while the Supreme Court reviews the case or a result of the newer map being struck down — Democrats will be ahead in the nationwide redistricting battle. But if the new map stands, Democrats and Republicans remain neck-and-neck in the redistricting battle.

California Republicans and the DOJ filed a lawsuit

• What happened: Shortly after Election Day, California Republicans announced they were challenging Prop. 50 in federal court, arguing the new district maps favor Latinos at the expense of other groups in violation of the Constitution. The federal Department of Justice filed last week to join the lawsuit.
• Does this change anything? Not at the moment. The lawsuit requests a preliminary injunction — essentially a pause on Prop. 50 going into effect — while the case gets reviewed, but it’s not clear if the court will grant one. Any injunction would have to happen very soon, since candidates are already gearing up for the 2026 elections.

Here’s how O.C. cities voted on Prop. 50

Voters wait to cast their ballots in the California Statewide Special Election at the Huntington Beach Central Library on Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025.

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• What happened: Prop. 50 won in Orange County, but data from the county's registrar’s office gives us a clearer picture of how that vote broke down across cities. 
• Who voted no? “No” votes led by more than 60% in Villa Park, a mostly residential enclave in the heart of Orange County, along with Newport Beach and Yorba Linda, traditional Trump strongholds.
• Supporting Prop. 50: The cities of Santa Ana, Irvine, Anaheim and Tustin were among those with the highest support for the measure. You can see the full breakdown of vote margins across O.C. here.

Prop. 50 moved an entire district out of the Inland Empire 

• What happened: The previously safe-Republican 41st Congressional District, which covered the Inland Empire and Coachella Valley in Riverside County, is now primarily in blue L.A. County, with some small slices of Orange County.
• What cities are in the new 41st District? It includes Downey, Lakewood, Sante Fe Springs and Brea. You can see a map of the district here. The 41st District currently stretches through Riverside County from Corona to Palm Desert. It’s represented by Republican Rep. Ken Calvert.
• Geographic changes this big are unusual, right? Yes — even though Prop. 50 shifted most California congressional districts, this change stuck out. As Jodi Balma, a political science professor at Fullerton College, told LAist: "The others, you could kind of understand how the borders changed and some segment of the district remained the same. But this one just wholesale was picked up from the Inland Empire and moved to Los Angeles, and it's a completely new district."
• Who could represent the new 41st District? So far, there's only one candidate in the race. That’s Democratic Rep. Linda Sánchez, who currently represents the 38th District. She could have chosen to run in either the newly drawn 38th District (covering Bell, Diamond Bar, Rowland Heights and part of Yorba Linda) or the new 41st District, since both include communities she currently represents. Here’s what she said when she announced the decision:
  

  “After Proposition 50 passed and split my current district, deciding where to run was an emotional but ultimately an easy choice — I chose home. Boundaries may change, but my commitment to fighting for the people I love will never waver.”

U.S. Rep. Linda Sanchez speaks at the U.S. Capitol on May 10, 2023 in Washington, DC.

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The other SoCal congressional candidates running in 2026

As expected, the Prop. 50 map is causing a big game of musical chairs among sitting congressional representatives now deciding which new districts to run in. New candidates are also jumping in to see if voters in freshly redrawn districts will elect them to office. Here’s what Southern California’s choices are looking like for the 2026 elections:

• Two sitting Republicans face off to represent O.C. and Riverside: The 40th Congressional District is one of the only districts that’s significantly more Republican under Prop. 50, so it’s prime territory for GOP candidates. 
• Previously in the 40th District: It covered eastern Orange County, San Bernardino and Riverside counties, including North Tustin, Chino Hills, Yorba Linda, Laguna Hills and Mission Viejo. It’s currently represented by Republican Rep. Young Kim. 
• The 40th District after Prop. 50: It hangs on to parts of Orange County, including Mission Viejo and Villa Park, but now includes large swathes of Riverside County, including Lake Elsinore, Murrieta and Menifee. 
• Who’s running in 2026: The 40th’s current representative, Republican Rep. Young Kim, will run for reelection. Republican Rep. Ken Calvert, who currently represents the Riverside County areas being added to the 40th District, says he will run against Kim in 2026, so voters will see a rare race between two incumbents from the same party.

An open seat in southeast L.A. County

L.A. County Supervisor Hilda Solis speaks at a press conference on Feb. 18, 2025 in Los Angeles.

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The mostly-blue 38th Congressional District seat is staying mostly blue, although it’s grabbed a larger piece of Orange County — and the seat is up for grabs.

• Previously in the 38th District: This L.A. County district included Montebello, Santa Fe Springs, Norwalk, Whittier and Diamond Bar, and is currently represented by Democratic Rep. Linda Sánchez.
• The 38th District after Prop. 50: It holds on to Montebello, Hacienda Heights, Rowland Heights and part of Diamond Bar, and adds on Bell and part of Yorba Linda. It also loses Norwalk, Whittier, Santa Fe Springs and La Habra to the 41st District. 
• Who’s running in 2026: With incumbent Sánchez running in the 41st District, the 38th is open. L.A. County Supervisor Hilda Solís, a Democrat, is already in the race. Solís previously served in the House from 2001 to 2009 before becoming Secretary of Labor under President Barack Obama and then being elected to the L.A. County Board of Supervisors in 2014.

Huntington Beach moves to a Democratic stronghold

The city has an all-Republican City Council that’s supported voter ID laws and restrictions on children’s books in public libraries. Under Prop. 50, Huntington Beach will join the 42nd Congressional District, which includes a heavily Democratic swath of L.A. County.

• Previously in the 42nd District: It was in L.A. County alone, covering Huntington Park, Downey, Bell, Lakewood and Long Beach. It’s currently represented by Democratic Rep. Robert Garcia.
• The 42nd District after Prop. 50: It covers the coast between L.A. and Orange counties, starting at Long Beach and going south to Huntington Beach, Costa Mesa and Newport Beach. The new district includes significantly more Republican voters than before, but it still has a Democratic majority. 
• Who's running in 2026: Incumbent Garcia is running for reelection. If he wins, that would put the progressive Long Beach Democrat — who has directly challenged the Trump administration on immigration enforcement and spending cuts from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) — in place to represent some of the most conservative areas of Orange County.

This story was adapted from an issue of LAist's Make It Make Sense newsletter. You can sign up here.

Just a few months after California overhauled the way it teaches children to read, a new bill takes on math education — and may be just as controversial.

Senate Bill 1067 would require schools to screen all kindergartners, first- and second-graders for basic math skills, and give them extra help if they’re behind. The idea is to help those children catch up to their peers who might have had much more exposure to math before starting school.

“A student’s early math skills are the most powerful predictor of their later success in school,” said Amy Cooper, a senior advisor at EdVoice, an education nonprofit that’s cosponsoring the bill. “We're not talking about tracking kids. There's no labels. It's just about getting support to students so that they can get up to grade level.”

California students, in all grade levels, have long struggled in math. Last year, just 37% of students performed at grade level in math, with some groups of students faring far worse. Just 16% of Black 11th-graders, for example, met the state’s grade-level standard. Nationwide, California ranks 43rd in 4th grade math scores, behind Texas, Mississippi, Alabama and dozens of other states.

One reason for the poor performance, experts say, is California’s uneven early education landscape. Until transitional kindergarten became available to all 4-year-olds last year, children showed up at kindergarten with a wide array of abilities and skills. Some had years of exposure to early math — either at preschool or at home — and could count, do basic arithmetic and even read a little. Others, especially low-income children, had no prior exposure to the ABCs and 123s, and lagged far behind. Even now, TK and kindergarten are optional, so some students start first grade with no previous math instruction at all.

‘Critical tipping point’

Some of those children catch up eventually, but many continue to fall further and further behind, research shows. And because math is sequential, catching up becomes harder over time, and the gap widens. Some researchers found that early math skills can even be a predictor of how well students do in high school and college.

It’s still too early to gauge the impact of transitional kindergarten on students’ long-term math performance, but so far there’s still a gap between children who’ve had exposure to math — either through preschool or at home — and those who haven’t. Low-income children are far less likely to get that early exposure, said Alice Klein, a developmental psychologist and research director at the education research firm WestEd.

“It is a critical tipping point,” Klein said. “Unless those students get intervention, the gap will widen. It’ll be harder for them to access higher-level math classes later on, and this will have implications for future job opportunities and the economic future of California. It’s a continual closing of opportunities.”

Transitional kindergarten teacher Rachelle Bacong leads students during a math lesson at Ira Harbison Elementary School in National City on April 21, 2026. Photos by Adriana Heldiz, CalMatters Klein supports the math screening legislation because she said it’s an effective way to identify students who are struggling and provide them with support. At least 20 other states have math screenings and have seen positive results, she said.

“I’m so happy that California is considering passing this bill,” Klein said. “It’s a great start, and could be the next step” in improving math outcomes in California.

Numbers and objects

Districts would have their choice of several screening tests to choose from, each ranging from 10 to 20 minutes long and testing children’s knowledge of basic math concepts. For example, kindergartners might be asked to look at two groups of dots and decide which group has more. Or they’d be asked to identify certain numbers and show that they understand what the numbers mean — that “three” means three objects, for example. English learners would take the test in their native languages.

The bill is authored by state Sen. Akilah Weber Pierson, a Democrat from San Diego, and last week passed unanimously in the Senate education committee.

Its cosponsor, EdVoice, was behind the push for phonics-based literacy instruction in California public schools. That initiative passed, but only after a long fight with the California Teachers Association, the state’s largest teachers union, and English learner advocates, who argued that it didn’t give teachers enough flexibility and that it wouldn’t be effective for students whose first language isn’t English. The final version of the bill doesn’t require schools to take advantage of state-funded teacher training, but it does require them to use phonics-based classroom materials.

Too many tests?

There might be a fight over the proposed math testing as well. The California Teachers Association opposes it, as well as California County Superintendents, the Association of California School Administrators and the California Mathematics Council.

They argue that the screening is unnecessary because the state already has a comprehensive new math framework and has made other big investments in early math. It’ll take time for those investments to show results. Also, the math framework emphasizes critical thinking and real-world math problems, and the screening might be too narrow and not take into account young children’s developmental differences.

They also argue that the testing will be pointless unless the state funds tutoring to help those students who are identified as needing extra help.

Transitional kindergarten students arrange number blocks during class at Ira Harbison Elementary School in National City on April 21, 2026. Photo by Adriana Heldiz, CalMatters Nick Johnson, an associate professor of teacher education at San Diego State University, questioned whether schools need yet another standardized test. The federal education policy No Child Left Behind, adopted in the early 2000s, focused heavily on testing, and led to few improvements, he said.

“Since No Child Left Behind testing, we've assumed that (standardized testing) will improve student learning," Johnson said. "But the evidence shows that's rarely true. Is public education in a better place now than it was 25 years ago?"

Magic of math

Rachelle Bacong has been teaching kindergarten and TK for 30 years in National City, near San Diego. She weaves math into every activity the children do. When she sets up an art project, she asks them how many chairs are at the table and how many scissors they’ll need. When she makes smoothies with them, she asks them how much juice or how many chunks of bananas they should add. When the children wash their hands, she asks them how long they spent at the sink.

They also spend a good portion of their day playing with blocks, tiles and tubes, experimenting with shapes and dimensions. Bacon’s goal is to make math fun and easy to grasp, no matter where the child is developmentally.

“Math crosses all cultures, abilities and backgrounds. It’s accessible to everyone. It’s my job to design the learning environment to make it accessible to everyone,” Bacong said. “That’s what’s so magical about it.”

Transitional kindergarten teacher Rachelle Bacong insider her classroom at Ira Harbison Elementary School in National City on April 21, 2026. Photo by Adriana Heldiz, CalMatters She also spends time every day explicitly teaching them math, although in a way that’s blended with play. She’ll teach them songs about numbers, show them how shapes fit together, and gently guide them when a solution might not be clear. Math instruction needs to come from several angles, she said, because children’s cognitive skills develop at such different rates.

She welcomes extra help for children who need it, but she’s skeptical that a test will reflect how individual children process math concepts. She already knows how her students are faring, and she fears that screening results will be used to stigmatize children, teachers or schools.

“My fear is that it’ll focus on a child’s deficits,” Bacong said. “Math needs to be joyful, fun and developmentally appropriate. We want to set students up for success, so they’ll be prepared for whatever they’re going to be designing or building in the future.”

This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.

This story first appeared on The LA Local.

Across Los Angeles, masked and armed federal immigration agents have raided day laborer centers, detaining workers and, at times, pointing their guns toward staff, according to advocates.  

In one raid last fall, federal agents entered the day laborer center in Cypress Park — which is private property — and threw a site coordinator to the ground, said Maegan Ortiz, executive director of the nonprofit Instituto de Educación Popular del Sur de California, known as IDEPSCA, which operates five of the seven day laborer centers in the city.  

Ortiz said, day laborers have “disappeared” after the raids, leaving it up to the centers to locate the detention facilities where they’re being held.

Now, advocates say the $1 million allocated for the city’s seven day laborer centers is not enough to address the realities that day laborer centers are facing under the current federal administration. The proposal is part of L.A. Mayor Karen Bass’ $14.9 billion budget released last week.

According to IDEPSCA, 136 people have been captured by agents during the 23 immigration raids at the day laborer centers, which are located in Cypress Park, Westlake, the Fashion District, Harbor City, Hollywood, North Hollywood and Van Nuys. 

Advocates instead are asking for a total of $3 million for the seven day laborer centers, arguing that $1 million does not cover the “growing needs of the community.”

“We are seeing increases to the police department budget … Meanwhile, the day laborer centers combined have had more than 100 people kidnapped,” Ortiz told Boyle Heights Beat.

For many families, the centers have also become a lifeline after having their loved ones taken by immigration agents. The centers have provided more than $400,000 in assistance for rent, food and legal fees, according to IDEPSCA.

Ortiz also said that day laborers have been crucial in recovery efforts from the January 2025 LA wildfires.

“A lot of the workers cleaning those homes, repairing those homes, rebuilding [are] our day laborers and household workers who use our centers,” Ortiz said. “Our centers have become climate disaster hubs that help workers who are left out of the safety net system.”

“This is more than just about an immigration issue. This is an economic issue. This is a climate issue. This is a health and safety issue,” Ortiz added. “The role that day labor centers play in the economy of Los Angeles cannot be understated and should not be understated.”

Ortiz said additional funding is needed for basic security upgrades, including cameras and reinforced doors. The goal, Ortiz said, is to “make it harder for Border Patrol to go in and violate the Constitution.” 

Across Los Angeles, masked and armed federal immigration agents have raided day laborer centers, detaining workers and, at times, pointing their guns toward staff, according to advocates.

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At a budget and finance committee hearing on Friday, Ortiz and other advocates urged the city to increase the funding. Members of IDEPSCA and the Central American Resource Center (CARECEN), which operates the day laborer center in Westlake, also testified. 

A series of budget hearings is scheduled through mid-May. The budget needs to be approved by the City Council and signed by the mayor by July 1, the beginning of the fiscal year.

“Attacks have intensified and the needs have grown significantly,” Jorge Nicolas with CARECEN told the budget and finance committee. “Day laborers are at the center … facing direct impacts of these attacks. Our response cannot remain the same while the crisis grows.”

“Maintaining decorum budget is not enough,” he added.

Joshua Erazo, an organizer at the CARECEN Day Labor Center, said he has witnessed four different raids at the Westlake center.

“I’ve been witness to the fear instilled in our community. Despite these attempts, the immigrant community continues to rise above,” Erazo said. 

“Regardless of these attacks, all the day laborer centers remain open so the community could have a space for healing,” he added. “We are grateful to be in the proposed budget … The amount is just not enough.”

Boyle Heights Beat has reached out to the mayor’s office for comment. This story will be updated if one is received. 

California is preparing to share with an outside organization detailed information about driver's license holders, including immigrants who do not have legal authorization to live in the U.S.

That breaks a promise the state made a decade ago when it began issuing licenses to unauthorized immigrants, advocates say, and it means more than 1 million people may face higher risk of deportation.

But if state officials don’t turn over the data, the Department of Homeland Security may refuse to accept California licenses and IDs at airports, the advocates believe, following a briefing with the California Department of Motor Vehicles and the office of Gov. Gavin Newsom earlier this month. State authorities confirmed they plan to share the data to comply with the Real ID Act of 2005, which set requirements for accepting state identification in federal facilities like airports.

Representatives from four advocacy groups who participated in the briefing told CalMatters the shared information will show whether a person has a Social Security number, meaning it could be used to identify people in the country without authorization.

The state plans to provide the information to the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators, a nonprofit organization whose governing board is made up of DMV officials from across the country.

The information given to the association will go into the group’s State-to-State Verification system and its platform, known as SPEXS, which allows DMVs and contractors that work with them to verify if someone has more than one license issued in their name. Sharing that data allows agencies that issue driver's licenses to verify that a person doesn’t have duplicate licenses in multiple states.

In the future, an ID database like the one the association maintains could be used to support mobile licenses people can use on their iPhones or online age verification for access to mature content or chatbots.

But advocates fear that federal immigration officials will try to gain bulk access to the data and use the fact that a person doesn’t have a Social Security number as a signal that they’re deportable.

The state received assurances from the association that safeguards will be added to prevent bulk searches for unauthorized immigrant license holders in the database and to prevent access by the Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, according to people who joined the briefing with the DMV and governor’s office. But they remain skeptical.

“Once this data is uploaded to AAMVA, it's out of California's control, no matter what California wants, no matter what protests we may make,” said Ed Hasbrouck with San Francisco civil liberties group The Identity Project, who was on the briefing call.

To carry out the plan to share data with the association the California Legislature will need to approve $55 million to cover the DMV’s costs. It may also need to amend existing law, which states that a Social Security number obtained by the DMV cannot be shared for any other purpose than to address unpaid taxes, parking tickets, or child support.

A spokesperson for the governor’s office declined to confirm details of the call or respond to specific concerns from advocates.

“California continues to lead in supporting immigrant families and protecting personal data from federal overreach,” the spokesperson, Diana Crofts-Pelayo, wrote in an email. “The state has taken the same approach to protect Californians' data during the Real ID implementation, while maintaining Real ID compliance for the benefit of all Californians.”

Ian Grossman, the chief executive of the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators, told CalMatters that participation in the verification system is voluntary and that only authorized state employees or contractors have access to the system, that bulk searches of the system are not currently allowed, and all searches must contain specific information about an individual like their name and date of birth.

Social security number ‘99999’

For more than a decade, California and 18 other states invited undocumented people to obtain driver's licenses in order to support public safety and the economy. Economists say that such laws improve economic activity, drive billions of dollars in taxes into state coffers, and benefit public safety because people who lack federal authorization to be in the country can feel more comfortable reporting criminal activity.

More than 1 million people have obtained driver's licenses in California under Assembly Bill 60, a law passed in 2013. The law prohibs the state from using information obtained in the licensure process to consider an individual’s citizenship.

But the multistate verification system can reveal whether a person is an undocumented immigrant. According to an association manual obtained by CalMatters, the database will include the last five digits of a person’s Social Security number, and if that person has no Social Security number, the association allows states to use the placeholder “99999.”

Advocates fear that federal immigration officials could gain access to information in the database, including on undocumented Californians, by asking local officials to make requests on their behalf.

That sort of end run would not be without precedent.

CalMatters reported on instances last year and this year where local law enforcement agencies broke state law and shared information gathered by automated license plate readers with ICE or Border Patrol agents.

The DMV and the governor’s office say the association will notify California of requests from any entity other than a participating state, including attempts to subpoena the database for information about California license holders, providing them with the opportunity to challenge subpoenas or intervene in other requests. But if a subpoena is accompanied by a gag order the association could not deliver any such notification. An agreement between the association and the California DMV obtained by CalMatters states that the association will inform California “if legally permitted” if it receives a subpoena “to release, disclose, discuss, or obtain access to S2S information.”

Hasbrouck believes the DMV and governor’s office “must have known” the reassurances they got from the association were “hollow given the possibility of gag orders.”

He also said that, as a private entity, the association has less protection from court orders or subpoenas than a government agency. Its data sharing is also more easily hidden, since the association is not subject to Freedom of Information Act requests or open meeting laws.

Advocates see ‘a direct betrayal’

Advocates who spoke with CalMatters said sharing the driver's license information with the association sells out immigrant license holders. The law that created the program prohibits the state from using information the program gathers to determine citizenship.

“It's unclear how extreme the danger people are being put into by this decision but there ’s no doubt we told people with AB 60 licenses this would never happen, but it’s happening, and that’s a direct betrayal,” said Tracy Rosenberg, head of advocacy at Oakland Privacy, who was on the call.

Linda Nguy, an associate director at the Western Center on Law and Poverty, compared the disclosure to a move last summer by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy to share data about millions of non-citizens with federal immigration agencies. That was a violation of federal law, department officials concluded, according to a memo obtained by  the Associated Press.

Pedro Rios, director of the U.S.-Mexico Border Program at the American Friends Service Committee, was not on the call, but echoed Rosenberg and Nguy, calling the data sharing plan “a betrayal of California’s commitment to protect and defend all its residents, especially those who have an AB 60 driver's license.”

Becca Cramer-Mowder, who was on the call representing the Electronic Frontier Foundation, questioned why the governor’s office and DMV are in a rush to comply with the Real ID Act two decades after it passed at a time of increased pressure from the Trump administration.

“It just seems like we’re missing the bigger picture of this moment in time,” she said

The plan to share license information with the database depends on the state budget process because the DMV is requesting $55 million to move the data over to the association’s systems.

At a state Senate budget hearing last month to approve the funding, lawmakers questioned why the state should follow a timeline set by a private organization and share part of Californians’ Social Security numbers. They also asked the DMV to explore the reasoning behind a lawsuit filed by Oklahoma lawmakers in January to block data sharing with the association, in which they argued that sharing personal data collected for driver’s licenses violates state law there.

DMV director Steve Gordon told them that California unsuccessfully tried to convince the motor vehicle association to consider a unique identifier other than a social security number and “anybody who has a social security number that's sharing information of course would have a concern” but told lawmakers “we need to go. We need to go now.”

DMV spokesperson Jaime Garza said that Californians can submit a request to surrender or cancel a driver's license but that driving without a license is illegal.

Nick Miller, a spokesperson for Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas, told CalMatters lawmakers continue to work on the policy issue.

“Protecting immigrant communities from the Trump administration's relentless attacks — and ensuring Californians are empowered and defended — continues to be a top priority for the Speaker,” he said in an email.

Rosenberg with Oakland Privacy suggested that the state might be better off opting out of the Real ID system than sharing information about its license holders, noting that more than 60 percent of Californians already have passports.

“I just wonder what would happen if the state asked Californians to get a passport in order to fly for a couple of years in order to protect 1 million Californians with AB 60 licenses. Maybe we should give people that opportunity.”

This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.

This story first appeared on The LA Local.

On most weekday afternoons at the Expo Park/USC Metro station outside the University of Southern California, the platform feels like an extension of campus life. People are usually bunched up in pairs or groups. Many wear USC crewneck sweatshirts and talk about campus life as they straddle the edges between downtown Los Angeles and the classroom. What they aren’t talking about are their cars or debating the pros and cons of taking an Uber versus a Waymo. 

“Ubering is expensive every time I’m going somewhere, it’s at least gonna be $30,” Jaiden Torres told The LA Local. Torres is a third-year student at Hofstra University doing a semester in Los Angeles. 

He said a car is the last thing on his mind as he navigates the city. “That’s money that I could be spending on other things. So I try to opt out to take the train.”

For many young Angelenos, the Los Angeles Metro isn’t a last resort. It’s how they move through the city. They’re embracing transit even as the system evolves and works to rebuild ridership and public trust.

More than 500,000 students, including community college students, across L.A. County now ride Metro through its GoPass program, with nearly 60 million student boardings since 2021. Metro says its overall ridership has also continued to recover since the pandemic, reaching more than 82% of pre-pandemic levels in January 2025 and extending a run of more than two years of growth.

In a statement, Metro attributed that increase in ridership to improvements in service, safety and a return of public confidence in the system. 

For Josh Figueroa, a first-year urban planning major at the USC, transit is both a classroom topic and a daily necessity. Originally from Riverside, he moved to L.A. this year without a car and now relies on Metro to get around.

“In terms of getting where I need to go, the Metro is very reliable,” he told The LA Local. “And, because I’m a student, it’s free.”

And it’s not just USC students. Since 2016, Metro has offered a U-Pass partnership that allows students to get unlimited or discounted rides with their TAP cards. The program went from one major university in 2017 to nearly two dozen schools in 2025. 

Jacob Wasserman is a research program manager at UCLA’s Institute of Transportation Studies. He told The LA Local that by offering passes, schools are helping create a culture of students using the Metro.  

“At UCLA, every undergrad and grad student gets a pass. It makes the transit agency money because [schools] buy it for everybody, and the people who do use it get a ton of value. It’s effectively free,” he said. 

For students juggling tuition, rent and groceries, the savings matter.

“I’m definitely more inclined to take the Metro than an Uber because of finances,” Figueroa said. “It’s way cheaper to take the Metro.”

Figueroa also feels more a part of L.A. when riding. “I feel more in connection with a community or in connection with a city when I’m taking the resources and the transportation that they provide,” he said. 

But there are drawbacks. 

On most weekday afternoons at the Expo Park/USC Metro station outside the University of Southern California, the platform feels like an extension of campus life. People are usually bunched up in pairs or groups. Many wear USC crewneck sweatshirts and talk about campus life as they straddle the edges between downtown Los Angeles and the classroom. What they aren’t talking about are their cars or debating the pros and cons of taking an Uber versus a Waymo.

Trains vs cars

L.A.’s landscape is built around cars and freeways, with many Metro stops located in inconvenient places. “It’s hard to fit a transit system into land use that’s built around the car, because you may have to walk that last mile, and if there isn’t just much around, it can be unsafe,” Wasserman said. 

Figueroa has personally experienced this. “A lot of places I want to go, like a food spot somewhere, I’d need to drive because the Metro stops are in inconvenient places. If I get off at a Metro stop, I might have to walk 30 minutes to an hour,” he said. 

But that may change. New Metro expansions are working to connect the city more efficiently.

Metro’s “28 by 28” initiative aims to complete 28 major public rail transportation projects before the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games, including rail extensions, new light-rail segments and rapid bus transit lines. 

Nine projects have been completed so far, including the A Line (formerly the Gold Line) Foothill Extension to Pomona. “[The A Line] is great for connecting college students out there,” Wasserman said. 

He added that these projects are meant to serve everyday riders. “The difference that we’re seeing for the 28 Olympics is that a lot of these projects, even the bus projects, are designed to be Olympic supporting, but also legacy projects beyond that,” Wasserman said. 

Wasserman hopes Metro’s expansion will help keep Angelenos connected across the city and is optimistic about its future.

“We’re really ambitiously expanding our rail system,” he said. “If it can work in L.A., it can work anywhere in the U.S.”

But another major issue affecting ridership is around safety. 

Commuter safety concerns

Figueroa noted that Metro stations with the fewest riders feel less safe.

“In urban places that don’t have a lot of people, there’s this idea of having less eyes on the street. When you have less eyes and less people watching, people tend to feel unsafe because they feel alone. It’s very prevalent on the Metro,” Figueroa said.

Torres noted the difference between the buses and trains in L.A. 

“I feel a lot safer on the train than on the bus. On trains, if it feels unsafe, I can move to the next car. But on the bus you’re kind of stuck,” he said. 

Transit agencies are paying attention to these concerns. Wasserman conducted a research project into the L.A. Metro Transit Ambassador Pilot Program, which provides a visible, customer-focused presence at stations and on vehicles. 

“I think the ambassador program is working well. They’re just like extra eyes, so you’re not in an empty station,” Wasserman said. “They are also doing more serious stuff. They carry Narcan and address overdoses.” 

Figueroa has noticed the changes. “I definitely feel safer. I don’t feel like I’m in danger or threatened,” he said. 

The UCLA report concluded that Metro was “wise to consider, pilot, and now make permanent” the ambassador program. 

The continuous improvements are also shaping how young people view the city itself. “I feel like [by taking the train] I’m getting to observe the working class or day-to-day people of L.A.,” Torres said.