This article was updated June 30 at 8:16 p.m.

Transportation professionals, scholars and students shared their concerns about transit issues at a conference June 8.

The structure of TransportationCamp Los Angeles – hosted by the UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies at the Luskin School of Public Affairs – differed from formal conferences, as session topics were not decided by the organizers, according to the program’s website. Instead, attendees had 20 to 30 minutes to propose topics they were interested in learning about. Sessions could be a presentation, a panel, a discussion or even a game.

Jesse Budlong, an attendee, said he enjoyed the camp’s lack of structure.

“A lot of times with more professional conferences, there’s going to be some politicalization about what actually gets to be a seminar or gets to be a topic of discussion,” Budlong said. “Here, they’re presented the day of. The organizers don’t know what’s going to happen. … There’s no influencing.”

The camp was structured into four sessions, with five topics offered per session. Discussion topics at the conference included positioning algorithms, New York congestion pricing, the use of public art in LA Metro systems and ensuring safety on public transport.

Rock Miller, who facilitated the session “History of Bike Lanes Everywhere,” said it is important for people to understand the history of transportation because it helps contextualize current American infrastructure, which he said is 50 years behind its European counterpart.

“We’re on the cusp of a lot of transformational work right now,” said Miller, a traffic and civil engineer. “A tremendous amount has happened in the last 15 to 20 years, but it’s still few and far between.”

Miller also said Europe has denser housing infrastructure than the United States, with smaller streets and a more well-established transit system. He added that many European countries maintain their historic infrastructure, while many places in the U.S. have built freeways in place of houses.

Budlong, who attended the session on the history of bike lanes, said he found the politicization of bike projects to be especially relevant in California.

Miller talked about political differences in the support and opposition to bike projects, Budlong said. Miller also suggested that to appeal to Republicans, an emphasis should be placed on how a project is not going to cost the government a substantial amount of money, Budlong added.

Budlong said if someone wants to propose a bike project in a politically conservative city, it is better for officials to know they already have the funding to increase the amount of support for the initiative.

Yu Hong Hwang, an urban planning doctoral student who facilitated the session, “Let’s Gripe Together: Discussing Legal and Procedural Hurdles in Our Work Lives,” said knowing the history of transportation helps people realize why American cities do not function the way they want them to. People want more walkable, transit-friendly, and green cities, Hwang added.

“We made decisions 50, 60 years ago, and that is carried forward,” Hwang said. “We now perceive some of the methods we used to build the freeways – routing them intentionally through communities with lower land costs, and therefore primarily communities with high concentrations of people of color. That was a decision made in an era where we had different values.”

Hwang said despite the current transportation issues, people at the camp are optimistic about how they can strategize to create policy viewed by transportation professionals as effective and accepted by politicians and policymakers.

Transportation professionals from LA Metro also spoke at the event. Stephen Tu, Metro’s deputy executive officer of operations, explained some of the interventions Metro has implemented to improve user experience – which include using classical music to reduce loitering, using fresh air ventilation to reduce odors and leaving elevator doors open when not in use to deter inappropriate activity.

“What we found from the implementation of classical music – in just the days after, we saw a 75% reduction in loitering and illicit activity in our station,” Tu said. “Part of that, what we’ve learned, is that classical music helps to ensure that people are moving through the station and using it for its intended purpose.”

Pam Krebs, Metro’s executive officer of communications with Metro, said people spend more time stuck in traffic than it would take them to get to their destination by public transportation, making it important to raise awareness about the benefits of public transportation.

“You don’t have to stress about driving. You don’t have to stress about getting stuck in traffic. You don’t have to worry about where to find parking, how to pay for parking,” Krebs said. “All of those are factors that affect the day-to-day lives of Angelenos.”