Everyone out of the carpool
An interesting short piece about the introduction of carpool lanes in the UK.
Carpool lanes are fairly prevalent around Southern California, though not ubiquitous. But they always strike me as something of a SoCal phenomenon, at least insofar as I can't recall coming across any other region with them.
Speaking from experience, I can say that carpool lanes don't act as much of an inducement for commuters to start carpooling. They're more of a surprise bonus for folks who just happen to have someone riding shotgun with them at that time. No one, and I mean no one in Greater L.A. ride shares for the purpose of cutting down on traffic congestion or trying to do a favor to the environment. These factors simply never enter into drivers' consciousnesses. Instead, you get lots of instances of folks driving somewhere and coming to the pleasant epiphany that, "Hey, I've got someone with me; let's take the carpool lane!" Or, another favorite, someone will seek out a person to ride with for the express purpose of being able to use the carpool lane. That is, someone who otherwise would've stayed at home and not been on the road. This is popular, at least among my family, for making airport runs where there'd otherwise be just a driver for one leg of the trip.
Not to beat a dead horse, but it'd be really swell if a fraction of the dollars that went to such projects as adding carpool lanes (especially the "flyover lanes" where the carpool lane is elevated high about the rest of the roadway) and other highway construction went instead to building and expanding local and regional train lines, and other public and mass transit systems. Seriously, if the CTA or Metra had more lines and ran their trains more frequently, it would help Chicago a lot more than anything else. Instead, we have the latest news that due to underfunding, the CTA may have to hike fares (again) or cut back on service, or both, to address its budget crisis.
Or everyone could start riding a bike. Anything to have one less car on the road.
Carpool lanes are fairly prevalent around Southern California, though not ubiquitous. But they always strike me as something of a SoCal phenomenon, at least insofar as I can't recall coming across any other region with them.
Speaking from experience, I can say that carpool lanes don't act as much of an inducement for commuters to start carpooling. They're more of a surprise bonus for folks who just happen to have someone riding shotgun with them at that time. No one, and I mean no one in Greater L.A. ride shares for the purpose of cutting down on traffic congestion or trying to do a favor to the environment. These factors simply never enter into drivers' consciousnesses. Instead, you get lots of instances of folks driving somewhere and coming to the pleasant epiphany that, "Hey, I've got someone with me; let's take the carpool lane!" Or, another favorite, someone will seek out a person to ride with for the express purpose of being able to use the carpool lane. That is, someone who otherwise would've stayed at home and not been on the road. This is popular, at least among my family, for making airport runs where there'd otherwise be just a driver for one leg of the trip.
Not to beat a dead horse, but it'd be really swell if a fraction of the dollars that went to such projects as adding carpool lanes (especially the "flyover lanes" where the carpool lane is elevated high about the rest of the roadway) and other highway construction went instead to building and expanding local and regional train lines, and other public and mass transit systems. Seriously, if the CTA or Metra had more lines and ran their trains more frequently, it would help Chicago a lot more than anything else. Instead, we have the latest news that due to underfunding, the CTA may have to hike fares (again) or cut back on service, or both, to address its budget crisis.
Or everyone could start riding a bike. Anything to have one less car on the road.
posted by Alexander Dubcek | 21:12
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