Get Paid Up to $600 to Leave Your Car Parked
Los Angeles, CA · August 5, 2026
Happy Wednesday — if you have been thinking about swapping your morning drive for public transit, a countywide program launching today will actually pay you to do it.
The Lead
LA Metro is expanding its One Car Challenge program countywide, offering local households up to $600 to keep at least one vehicle parked for five weeks. Following a 300-household trial in Santa Monica that produced a 16% jump in walking, biking, and transit rides, the second phase opens enrollment to 2,000 households across Los Angeles County.
To participate, residents track odometer readings and daily trips using the GoCarma app, earning $120 per week for leaving the car in the driveway. The initiative, backed by a $2 million regional grant, aims to gather data on whether cash incentives can permanently ease gridlock ahead of major international events. Applications are handled directly through Metro's program portal as spots fill on a first-come basis.
Local Pulse
City Council Pursues New E-Bike Restrictions The City Council is advancing rules requiring rider training for youth and banning modifications that increase electric bike speeds.
Palisades Fire Rebuild Tax Measure Advances Voters will decide this November whether to temporarily exempt damaged properties rebuilding from the Palisades Fire from Measure ULA taxes.
Jacobs Selected for Electric Bus Charging Infrastructure designers will retrofit bus divisions in Carson and West Hollywood with overhead charging networks before 2028.
Today's Outlook
- High 87°F · Low 65°F — Overcast
- Overcast morning skies offer temporary relief before temperatures climb toward an 87-degree peak.
What's On Around Town
The Comedy of Errors Griffith Park - The Old Zoo, 7:00 PM Free outdoor Shakespeare performance on the lawn — bring a picnic blanket.
Sierra Ferrell The Wiltern (3790 Wilshire Blvd), 7:00 PM Roots and Americana melodies filling the historic Wilshire stage tonight.
Outsiders, Outcasts, Rebels + Weirdos Skirball Cultural Center (2701 N Sepulveda Blvd), 10:00 AM–5:00 PM Exhibition exploring five decades of transatlantic punk art and music culture.
Meridian Brothers & Mexican Institute of Sound The Regent Theater (448 S Main St), 7:30 PM Eclectic Latin electronic and tropical dance rhythms live in Downtown.
Phantom of the Opera Hollywood Pantages Theatre (6233 Hollywood Blvd), 7:30 PM The celebrated musical returns to Hollywood for its 40th anniversary tour.
Spotlight & Story
- Cahuenga Boulevard
- Long before the 101 freeway cut through the pass, Indigenous Tongva travelers blazed an ancient footpath between the basin and their village, Kawe'ngna meaning "place of the mountain." Spanish colonizers transliterated it into Cahuenga in the late 1700s.
Los Angeles Daily Digest — compiled from local sources as of 6 AM. For breaking updates, follow your local newsrooms.
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