carpool north and south

[ceagle]

I have always wondered, but can't remember if I asked it here...

Does anybody know why Northern CA has smart carpool lanes and Southern CA has stupid carpool lanes? I guess the easy answer would be that someone or some committee somewhere decided So Cal was too stupid to handle smart ones... but there might be other answers, I dunno..

The lanes in NorCal are in effect during heavy traffic hours only, so regular drivers can use them in off-hours like 2 a.m. etc, and the SoCal ones are just brainlessly in effect all 24 hours ;P

Comments

[hastka.livejournal.com]

Consider the purpose of a carpool lane is not to improve traffic, it is to incentivize people to share a car - or perhaps to drive a two-seater or motorcycle.

By definition they make traffic WORSE for people who doing any solitary activity, which is to say anything except two people in the same neighborhood commuting to roughly the same workplace.

I'm not even sure they improve fuel economy, since
1) It takes more gas to carry two people around than one, in cases of "I need to go to ___, let's both go so I can use the carpool lane" or
2) It forces people driving the least efficient vehicles (large cars or trucks with one occupant) to drive in the least efficient way (slow, stop-start driving).

But, eh. That's California for ya.

[c-eagle.livejournal.com]

Wowzers.... Amazing analysis, even if it doesn't bode well for traffic ... :/

[hastka.livejournal.com]

To stretch it a little further, they also discriminate disproportionately against single people and introverts! You'd think a place like California would be all over that legal battle but I guess they're picky about which minority groups the social justice warriors rally behind. :) You have my blessing if anyone with standing wants to bring that point up with the ACLU. :)