Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Fellow Akshay Sreekumar dives into the details on fareless Los Angeles transit

UCLA masters student Akshay Sreekumar has often found himself at ease within the technical side of problems, surrounded by data and the potential clarity it can bring.

Over the course of his life, he has witnessed the devastating impacts of climate change — from overwhelming floods in Kerala, India, where he was born, to the ongoing threat of wildfire in Northern California, where he’d spent his education and early career.

When Sreekumar went back to school, enrolling at UCLA to work toward his masters in electrical and computer engineering, he stumbled upon the Sustainable LA Grand Challenge Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Fellows Program and an opportunity to leverage his interest in infrastructure networks and how they can be adapted for the growing pains of climate change. While some of the arguments for fareless transit were obvious — saving money for low-income riders in need, for example — it hadn’t ever been examined whether the change to fareless would take cars off the road, reduce emissions and improve air quality.

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• Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Fellows Program

From the Vault: A Conversation on Los Angeles Wildlife Corridors

A proposed city Wildlife Ordinance passed a major milestone late last month when the Los Angeles City Council Planning and Land Use Committee approved it unanimously, 4-0. The ordinance will still have to be approved by the entire council at a later date, which has not yet been scheduled.

In the fall of 2021, the UCLA Sustainable LA Grand Challenge hosted a roundtable of faculty experts from a variety of disciplines examining wildlife corridor issues in detail.

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