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I live in the Dallas area and the HOV is a great addition. The extra lane itself it great. I doubt many car poolers use it but that doesn't bother me. It used to take me 40 minutes to go 19 miles to work due to traffic. When the HOV lanes were closed for repairs my commute time went to an hour and half to two hours due to the increased traffic due to the decreased lane! Of course there were regular crashes or breakdowns in that lane which would snarl up traffic for hours. Our HOV lanes are to the far left.
I've never seen an HOV lane on the far right, but it strikes me as a really dumb idea. In general, the farther left you go, the faster the traffic moves. Partly this is do to regulations and custom, but partly it's a function of fewer possible conflicts. On an expressway with three lanes in each direction, the one on the right is going to have lots of merges and de-merges (if that's a real word) as people enter and exit the highway. The middle lane will have people merging over to avoid the slower traffic in the right lane or to make room for someone merging on, as well as people merging over from the left after they've passed someone. But the left lane will have the fewest possible conflicts; no one from the left side, and on the right side only people who want to travel the fastest (and are likely going greater distances as well) or passing someone in the middle lane.
Given all that, in normal peak-hour conditions, the HOV lane will -- by design -- have the highest speeds. So why not make it the lane that will nearly always default to the highest speed anyway? Putting it on the right side seems like a recipe for having sub optimal performance in that lane.
All that said, the issue of carpoolers weaving in and out of the other lanes to get to and from the HOV lanes, and having to sharply accelerate to enter them and sharply decelerate to exit them, is a real concern. Though it's much more expensive, the only real solution is to have separate on-off ramps just for the HOV lanes.
Oh, and to answer the OP's question, I'm in favor of HOV lanes. They make bus operations much faster and more reliable, which in turn makes them more attractive and draws higher ridership.
Washington also has separate exits for hov lanes in some of the more busier exits, I'll show you some examples
Interesting comments. The vote appears to be evenly split, although there are still some reservations in those voting for the second option. I really haven't lived anywhere else that had HOV lanes to get a good feel for how it works in other cities compared to here in Phoenix. Maybe the issues I have seen are more of a local phenomenon. Also sounds like not all areas operate their HOV lanes the same way, so that could also play into it. Keep the comments coming!
I believe carpooling is becoming ever more impractical with fewer and fewer people in the white-collar workforce having consistent hours. Even if I wanted to, I can't carpool, because what do I do when I get stuck at work until 7pm one night? Or when I decide to come in at 10 the next day because of working late before?
I'd like to see them all made HOT lanes at minimum to get maximum utilization when there aren't enough carpoolers or buses to be utilizing the HOV lane significantly.
I believe carpooling is becoming ever more impractical with fewer and fewer people in the white-collar workforce having consistent hours. Even if I wanted to, I can't carpool, because what do I do when I get stuck at work until 7pm one night? Or when I decide to come in at 10 the next day because of working late before?
I'd like to see them all made HOT lanes at minimum to get maximum utilization when there aren't enough carpoolers or buses to be utilizing the HOV lane significantly.
My Old Employer had a "Guaranteed ride home program" if you were a registered car pooler, and your Car Partner had to: Leave Early for a Emergency, Stay late for work. (Or if you had to leave early, Stay late) In about 10 year the "guaranteed ride home" was used about 15 times, in one of the western NJ office.
The company would "Get you Home", by either using a Car Service (Black Car or Uber now), or at one office they would rent a car and pay for it for you to get you home.
My Old Employer had a "Guaranteed ride home program" if you were a registered car pooler, and your Car Partner had to: Leave Early for a Emergency, Stay late for work. (Or if you had to leave early, Stay late) In about 10 year the "guaranteed ride home" was used about 15 times, in one of the western NJ office.
The company would "Get you Home", by either using a Car Service (Black Car or Uber now), or at one office they would rent a car and pay for it for you to get you home.
Yeah, I've seen offices with programs like that. That only really works when my examples are rare exceptions to a normally stable schedule though, which is not the nature of modern work.
Yeah, I've seen offices with programs like that. That only really works when my examples are rare exceptions to a normally stable schedule though, which is not the nature of modern work.
Carpooling was not a huge percentage of the workforce, The Western NJ Office had WF of ~600 about ~50-60 Carpoolers, (There were about 30 cars or so in the "Good" parking spaces, Front Row).
It was All IT people, Mostly the reason for needing the Emergency Ride Home was due to someone that had to leave early for a emergency, Sometimes staying late to work on a problem. (Everyone had at home access).
Often times if the Car Driver had to leave early (or there rider) for some issue (Other then life or death), They both would just leave, and Non Emergency Person would just work from home the rest of the day.
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