Comments on: HOV Lanes

By: Boyd

Boyd — Tue, 03 Aug 2004 12:34:32 +0000

Dodd, they happen to be evaluating HOT (High Occupancy/Toll) lanes for part of the Capital Beltway in Virginia. Not too many screams so far, but they're also not close to building it.

By: Dodd

Dodd — Mon, 02 Aug 2004 19:03:55 +0000

I don't think the problem is the HOV lane per se. It's that it's HOV-3. Make it 2 and it'll get more use (of course, a lot of that use would be parents with a single child in the car, which doesn't actually do anything to remove a driver from the road, but it does at least get them out of the main lanes). The HOV lanes in LA are all 2s and, as the commenter above noted, get consistent use. A 3-person restriction, OTOH, is almost seems designed to ensure hardly anyone can use it (Robert Conquest's Third Law of Politics in action). Better yet, allow solo drivers to pay a fee to use it - which many would happily do - and it would actually have a chance to live up to its potential. Unfortunately, every time someone suggests something like the latter, the predictable howls emanate from the liberals about the "rich" getting to have it easier than everyone else, so nothing happens, causing the highest of all liberal policy results: Everyone gets to be equally miserable.

By: jen

jen — Sun, 01 Aug 2004 20:49:32 +0000

What you say is quite correct - I live 35 miles from my office and I'm the only one in my office who lives out where I live. There's one woman in Leesburg, but carpooling isn't really feasible because I tend to work longer hours than she does. Public transportation is cost prohibitive and actually would make my total commute time longer, nevermind the hassle of getting to the nearest Metro station (easily 40-45 mimutes driving), changing from the orange line to the blue/yellow line, then walking for about 20 minutes from the station to my office building. Besides, I get free parking in a garage for my car.

By: The Window Manager

The Window Manager — Sun, 01 Aug 2004 17:59:02 +0000

Existential HOV Questions - Is a lone pregnant woman in a car able to use an HOV 2 lane? (this one actually made it into the courts) - If you say "no" to the above, keep in mind that one adult and infant ARE eligible for HOV 2 (two "persons"). How is this reducing traffi...

By: Maniakes

Maniakes — Sun, 01 Aug 2004 15:46:42 +0000

I live in southern california. The freeways around here that have HOV lanes generally have a single HOV-2 lane next to 4+ ordinary lane. The HOV lane is almost always busy, but less busy than the regular lanes (and thus, always moving at some reasonable speed).

I like these lanes since making them regular lanes would not significantly decongest the other lanes, but as things are now they allow the cars with the most passengers to avoid being stuck in traffic.

By: McGehee

McGehee — Sun, 01 Aug 2004 15:01:49 +0000

Hey, I like HOV lanes. Since the vast majority of occasions I have to go near Atlanta involve my wife and me traveling together, we get to use the HOV lanes, and it makes the drive a whole lot less stressful than trying to use the regular lanes.

Of course, when one of us needs to travel through that area alone it sucks just a little, but still...