Carpool lane crisis?

Big changes could be coming to California's carpool lanes. The federal government has concluded the lanes are getting too congested. And the state is now looking into ways to clear them out, NC Times reports:

Under pressure from the federal government, California transportation officials said Tuesday they will devise a strategy by the end of August to free up clogged car-pool lanes. Measures could include adjusting the hours that the car-pool requirement is in effect, stepping up California Highway Patrol enforcement, allowing continuous access into the lanes and limiting access to hybrids on congested freeways, said Tamie McGowen, a Caltrans spokeswoman in Sacramento. On Friday, the Federal Highway Administration told the California Department of Transportation the state is out of compliance with federal law because it has allowed lanes to become congested, state officials said.

Comments

[Michael Ballard]

Allowing solo occupant hybrids into a HOV lane is just wrong. It doesn't encourage carpooling, gasoline IS NOT an alternative fuel. The added bonus is that when a hybrid is driving at 65mph, they are using gasoline, NOT electricity. Hybrids are only marginally useful in downtown areas and in heavy traffic. Other than that, they are a gasoline powered car.

[larry friedman]

car pool lanes is an idea whose time has passed.
it was a fabulous idea 25 years ago 'lets make people so uncomfortable that they will double up in their cars'.

unfortunately this never worked, and the result in TODAYS traffic is an instant traffic jam from 3-7, with the freeway miraculously opening up at 7pm.

car pool lanes cause traffic jams and accidents.

if caltrans wants to facilitate traffic movement they should give up on the whole misguided idea.

Soon it wont matter since with ever increasing population the car pool lanes are filling up too, and what will caltrans do? make it take 3 people or 4 to ride in the carpool lane?

what about the rest of the drivers.

caltrans - please face reality, not pie in the sky ideas!

[Nosmog]

HOV Access for TRUE alternative fuel vehicles is allowed under FEDERAL law as a "transportation control measure" allowance, as an incentive to encourage sale of the MOST DIFFICULT TYPES OF ALTERNATIVE FUEL VEHICLES. (Dedicated CNG, EV's and Fuel Cell) Law went into effect July 1, 2000. HOV lanes are for congestion migigation. Allowing a few true AFV's of which CNG makes up the majority had no harmful effect on congestion, and the law worked as intended. Hybrids are NOT difficult to sell, they still use gasoline and the CA law did not conform with federal provisions, essentially not legally. Some other states that tried to implement Hybrids in HOV lane laws were shot down. Virginia (DC area) and AZ allow Hybrids and even allowed bi-fuel and flex-fuel (ethanol) cars once... again illegally adn a real disaster. States should stick to the laws.

[matt]

i bet there are more motorcyclists registered in the state of california then 85,000, how come they don't have hov exempt stickers????

i drive 90% freeway, and im still averaging 45 mpg
yet im kicked out of car pool lanes and my prius isnt any different
then any other prius, yet im kicked out of the lanes!!!

[matt]

i bet there are more motorcyclists registered in the state of california then 85,000, how come they don't have hov exempt stickers????

i drive 90% freeway, and im still averaging 45 mpg
yet im kicked out of car pool lanes and my prius isnt any different
then any other prius, yet im kicked out of the lanes!!!

[Martin Luther]

What about a mixed HOV/toll combination system for California? The system would be transponder-based (as are now used in Orange County and throughout the East Coast) with a combination of free travel and tolled travel.

Here's how it would work: The South Coast Air Quality Management District determines the average round-trip distance from home to work. They multiply the mileage by the number of days in the month and come up with a total number of miles (adding 20 or 50 for emergencies). Those miles in HOV lanes are free with two people or three people in them during commute hours.

Additional miles would cost the car owner a certain number of cents per mile - perhaps keyed to the same rate as the lower of the two IRS reimbursement rates. Months would start on a staggered basis so everybody wouldn't run out of free miles on the 25th.

If most cars in major metropolitan areas in the Philadelphia and New York areas can afford transponders, that should be an affordable option here as well.

Formulas for mileage and numbers of passengers per car can always be changed, but with a system like this we have people taking responsibility for using their cars wisely during the times most of their neighbors need the same scarce resource - space on the freeway.

[Greg Kay]

carpool lane criteria: how about 2 for hybrids, 3 for non-hybrids?

[DB]

The only people who "believe" the car pool lanes work are the administration personnel who are paid "Read: Big Bucks" to administer the lanes. This money to these "administrators" and for the cost of the lanes could be better used elsewhere.

[Rob]

The 605 south in the morning is consistently backed up from somewhere between the 10 & 210 (carpool starts at the 10). The back-up does not clear until the 105. About a 50 minute drive (20 miles). This morning was bad as usual. I always drive in the fast lane and observe the "car poolers". My estimate is about 33% of the drivers in the HOV lane are single occupants. I always see dozens of solos, out of frustration over this everyday debacle, jump in the car pool lane. Rarely, if ever, is there enforcement. The CHP does not have near enough man power to enforce the double lane rules or the HOV rules (at least not on the 605).

I say abolish HOV and abolish double lines. Why does CalTrans insist in having this double standard regarding HOV & the double lines? The 22 Frwy & No. Cal. HOV lanes are not this way, why are LA drivers punished? The stupidity is something even my tiny brain can't comprehend.

[Joe in MD]

Please, Caltrans, do NOT allow continuous access to the HOV lanes. The reason they still work reasonably well is that you don't have someone merging into or out of slower moving traffic every 100 yards. If you want to see an example of how they do and don't work, come back to the DC area - I-395 has divided, dedicated (reversible) lanes, and they move at rush hour.
I-66, I-270, and US 50 have a single lane with no divider. They move as well. Unless an SUV decides that he needs to pass someone in the #2 lane, or if someone missed their exit and comes to a dead stop to get into the main lanes, or if half of the folks in the lane (who are HOV violators to start with) see a cop ahead, and all try to jump out of the HOV lane at the same time.
Keep the lanes divided!

[Richard H]

Why are there carpool lanes?

Carpool Lanes are Caltrans' way to remind all the solo drivers on the freeway how evil and sinful they are.

In fact, Caltrans considers solo drivers in cars on the freeway to be so evil and sinful that they are being denied one lane on the freeway to punish them. Yeah, sure that extra lane could be used for regular traffic. Maybe Carpool lanes are a failure. But the traffic engineering aspects of HOV lanes are beside the point. This is about good and evil. Rewarding good behavior and punishing sinful behavior. That one lane is reserved for those good people that actually double or triple up on car trips on the freeway as a reward from the State of California.

The Gospel according to Caltrans. The Carpool lane is the highway to heaven. The Carpoolers that are on it are on their way to heaven. All the rest of you solo commuting sinners are going to h...

[Fourth generation]

For those complaining about the HOV. Stop whining and look for someone else to share your car in the morning and the afternoon. Presto you are now able to use the HOV while the rest of the idiots are stuck in traffic. The thing is to encourage people to share vehicle use to reduce vehicle numbers so stop crying to open the HOV for general use, doh!

[Langdon Conrad]

Eliminate Hybrids - They do nothing to reduce congestion, and despite popular belief, hybrids don't get much better (if any better) fuel economy than other compact cars on the freeway.

Require Qualifying Passengers to be Licensed Drivers - Children shouldn't qualify as occupants for carpool lanes. Again, there's no traffic congestion benefit.

Enforcement - Ticket drivers entering/exiting carpool lanes when there's no legal break and ticket those using the lanes illegally (including those towing trailers).

[enlightenment]

The CarPool lane REQUIREMENT should be a minimum of 2 adults of age 18 and older. Children would not be counted. Why? Because the point is trying to get multiple drivers to CarPool together. Those young kids can't drive, so those people are just taking advantage of the system.

[steve]

Tim, the statement "the Prius has almost the same mileage as the stick shift Corolla" is incorrect. Also, keep in mind that it isn't mileage alone that makes a car qualify for the HOV access.

[Steve Drasco]

The last sentence of the post is suspicious, "Federal Highway Administration told ...". How did the Federal Highway Administration actually come to its conclusion? Was it true in both of the state's major auto-traffic areas? Was it measurement-based or complaint-based? Has the state verified whatever measurements there might have been?

I don't have a hybrid, but I don't mind them being in the HOV lanes. In my limited experience, while I've seen the HOV lanes slow to or below the speed of the other traffic, it's been the exception rather than the rule.

[Tim]

When the new Mileage rules are used, do any of the Hybrids still comply with the 45MPG rule to use the carpool ?

I have heard that the Prius has almost the same mileage as the stick shift Corolla.

[Samuel Fig]

The only ones complaining are the ones who drive solo. As car pool lane user I think they work just fine. There should be more. Goverment should close lanes on the freewas and add trains. At least HOV lanes encourage people to share their commute and vanpool. If you take them away then why should people bother.

[Will Carter]

It's wrong to think that allowing any car into the HOV lane is somehow going to reduce traffic in general. Since numerous studies find that constructing entirely new roads doesn't improve traffic in congested areas, why would it follow that adding an additional lane of traffic would improve flow. The HOV lane is meant to get people thinking about how they can reduce the number of cars on the road, and the Hybrid stickers are sending a similar message about auto pollution, not just congestion. If the city really wants to think about reducing congestion, they need to think more about how to get more people out of their cars in the first place.

[Roland]

"How many times have you heard a person ask for someone to ride with him so he can take the carpool lane?"

It's a standard practice for commuters in the DC area to pick up "slugs" so they can use the HOV lanes.

[Rob McMillin]

Undoubtedly this "crisis" is manufactured by carmakers who want to see California's experiment of handing out access stickers to hybrid owners come to a screeching halt. Carpool lanes aren't anything like full, and are almost always less populated than the general freeway, unless traffic is flowing freely to begin with.

[William Thompson]

So many times, as I navigate LA freeways, I have observed three lanes jammed with vehicles and the HOV lane used only sparingly. So let's see here, perhaps 85% of all vehicles in three lanes and around 15% in the fourth lane. If that one lane were open to all, wouldn't the distribution be more or less even? To those who think there are fewer cars on the road due to carpool lanes, I say WRONG.

Haven't studies shown that the second person in the car is most likely to be a family member (often an underage child) rather than a person who left his/her car at home? How many times have you heard a person ask for someone to ride with him so he can take the carpool lane?

I say open all lanes to all traffic. Only bureaucrats and fools think HOV lanes improve traffic flow.

[Mike Naoum]

While the contemplated measures will help, other measures should be considered. This includes not allowing slower moving construction or delivery type vehicles in the lanes, creating dedicated exit and entrance lanes similar to those found on the 405 in South Orange County and increasing the minimum number of riders from 2 to 3.

[Peter McFerrin]

Revoking solo access from hybrid drivers would be an excellent start. It's one of the stupidest public policies out there.