L.A. should adopt what London did and implement a congestion charge for certain heavily traveled areas of the city that get clogged up during rush hour. This will create revenue for the city to invest in alternative transport and encourage commuters to consider carpooling more, buying electric vehicles, and using the subway, bus, biking or walking to work.

Here is more from Wikipedia:

The London congestion charge is a fee charged for some categories of motor vehicle to travel at certain times within the Congestion Charge Zone (CCZ), a traffic area in London. The charge aims to reduce congestion, and raise investment funds for London's transport system. The zone was introduced in central London on 17 February 2003, and extended into parts of west London on 19 February 2007. Though not the first scheme of its kind in the United Kingdom, it was the largest when introduced, and it remains one of the largest in the world. Several cities around the world have referenced London's congestion charge when considering their own schemes.

The standard charge is £10 for each day, for each non-exempt vehicle that travels within the zone between 07:00 and 18:00 (Monday-Friday only); a penalty of between £60 and £180 is levied for non-payment. On 4 January 2011 several changes were implemented based on the public consultation conducted in 2008, which included the removal of the Western Extension, a charge increase from £8 to £10, and the introduction of an automated payment system.[1] Transport for London (TfL) administers the charge; Capita Group operated it under contract until 31 October 2009, and IBM took over on 1 November 2009. The system is mostly run on an automatic basis using automatic number plate recognition.