I'm not surprised
LA has fewer cars/person than San Francisco, especially given the very expansive definition of the San Francisco metro area. While I imagine this is partially driven by demographics (more low income people in LA), it's also the case that LA is a lot denser/walkable than people think and LA's transit system is much better than people think. Don't know enough to confidently express this opinion, but would guess that at least in the areas covered (meaning, large chunk of Bay Area), overall LA has much better transit. The Bay Area's transit just isn't awesome.
