People are going to be angry, and you have to ignore them. Take something like Santa Monica Boulevard (which doesn't even look like it goes through any useful parts of the city, aside from housing, so there could be better places to do so), which is, seemingly, a mix of 3x3 lanes, and 2x2 at times with enough space to slide in a whole bus in the middle.
Remove all these lanes. Drop a tramway in the middle, with regular passages (one every 2-5 minutes is a standard in Europe). This serves both for tramways and emergency vehicles, grant them the right to drive here. Couple it with a bike lane on both sides, alongside that tramway line. Leave a single lane, usable for cars (which you really don't want to take anymore since it's become a single lane. Over time, car traffic reduces) and buses (which shouldn't pass by there too much, since you already have a tramway. Not along the whole length, at least, just portions. Congratulations, you've removed the need for a car for anyone alongside that road, going anywhere in a 10 minute radius around it.
Now, that's not much, and that's not all. Other plans have to include considering a small tactical nuke to clear out massive parking spaces for people coming from outside the city, at the extremities of these tramway lines. You really want them to drop that car outside. Then do it again. Start criss crossing. San Vincente Blvd, Western Ave., wherever. Just have the transit system befitting a major city, in a major first world country.
Now, yes, this also takes 30 years to finish, but that's the only way it's ever worked in car centric cities that transformed into tolerable, walkable places.
Remove all these lanes. Drop a tramway in the middle, with regular passages (one every 2-5 minutes is a standard in Europe). This serves both for tramways and emergency vehicles, grant them the right to drive here. Couple it with a bike lane on both sides, alongside that tramway line. Leave a single lane, usable for cars (which you really don't want to take anymore since it's become a single lane. Over time, car traffic reduces) and buses (which shouldn't pass by there too much, since you already have a tramway. Not along the whole length, at least, just portions. Congratulations, you've removed the need for a car for anyone alongside that road, going anywhere in a 10 minute radius around it.
Now, that's not much, and that's not all. Other plans have to include considering a small tactical nuke to clear out massive parking spaces for people coming from outside the city, at the extremities of these tramway lines. You really want them to drop that car outside. Then do it again. Start criss crossing. San Vincente Blvd, Western Ave., wherever. Just have the transit system befitting a major city, in a major first world country.
Now, yes, this also takes 30 years to finish, but that's the only way it's ever worked in car centric cities that transformed into tolerable, walkable places.