Keep on truckin’ on bike and on foot. And in taxis?

If the people behind the 2010 LA Street Summit have their way, four wheels would become two.

Or none at all.

Scheduled for Saturday, March 20 at Los Angeles Trade Technical College, near downtown L.A., this year’s meeting broadens the discussion from an earlier bike summit to include mass transit, walking and even taxicabs. The Urban Environmental and Policy Institute of Occidental College, the summit’s creator, hopes the gathering will spark enthusiasm for the growth of “green and community based” styles of transportation.

“We’ve got a system weighed heavily in favor of automobiles,” said Joe Linton, program associate for the UEPI and an avid cyclist. “For Los Angeles to have a healthy environment and a lessened environmental impact, we need to give people other options.”

The summit kicks off Thursday, March 18 at 7:30 p.m. in Occidental College’s Keck Theater with a lecture on energy and the environment by Janette Sadik-Khan, Commissioner of Transportation for New York City, which rolled out 200 miles of new bike lanes in the past three years.

Saturday’s programs will be interactive and geared towards a broader community of alternative transportation enthusiasts. Workshop discussions include street-ready topics such as:

* “How Free Parking Gets in the Way of Building Livable Cities” by increasing car congestion and discouraging alternative transportation

* “Subverting Urban Planning” through increasing the number of parks with more places to sit, along with other people-friendly features

* “What the Hell is Going on in Long Beach?” (Partial answer: new bike lanes and shared bike-car-bus lanes)

The summit starts at 10:00 am and goes through 5:00 pm. Admission is free.

The event will also feature artwork by local artists and food from street vendors.

“The fact that this year has been expanded [beyond bikes] is a major leap forward,” said Allison Mannos, Urban Programs Coordinator for the Los Angeles County Bike Coalition. “It’s pretty revolutionary.”