How to encourage more people to commute (Dallas, Arlington: car insurance, how much)

[Mister Nifty]

As Texas regulates the insurance industry, the state needs to force the insurance companies to provide commuting Texas customers with weekend insurance policies with options to cover emergencies. In other words, under such a plan, Texas customers agree to commute five days of the week without using their vehicles in which time they won't need coverage. During the weekend, actually the two days that they are typically off from work, they are covered. To handle any life threatening emergencies which may arise during the five days they commute to work, a customer can purchase an option to cover such situations.
This kills multiple birds with one stone. First off, it gets people off the freeways and streets. Second, it increases mass transit ridership and revenue. Third, the state will produce less overall pollution.

[BigD_JT_14221]

Originally Posted by Mister Nifty

As Texas regulates the insurance industry, the state needs to force the insurance companies to provide commuting Texas customers with weekend insurance policies with options to cover emergencies. In other words, under such a plan, Texas customers agree to commute five days of the week without using their vehicles in which time they won't need coverage. During the weekend, actually the two days that they are typically off from work, they are covered. To handle any life threatening emergencies which may arise during the five days they commute to work, a customer can purchase an option to cover such situations.
This kills multiple birds with one stone. First off, it gets people off the freeways and streets. Second, it increases mass transit ridership and revenue. Third, the state will produce less overall pollution.

I get your point but you are misusing the word "commuting"
I work 5 days a week and drive my car as no public transportation is available. Therefore I commute to work Monday through Friday.

If I worked from home I'd be telecommuting, which I think is what you're getting at(?)
I do like your idea about giving telecommuters an insurance discount but not driving at all M-F might be a bit tricky from a management and enforcement standpoint.
Any ideas that reduce the #'s of cars jamming our freeways and reduces our carbon footprint are good ideas!

[loves2read]

the point is that in Texas insurance companies can't be forced to do much of anything...

and the fact is that even people who telecommute from home are often using their cars for non-work-related driving during the day...

[JS1]

I'm glad the insurance companies can't be forced to write policies, especially stupid ones like that.

[Mister Nifty]

Originally Posted by JS1

I'm glad the insurance companies can't be forced to write policies, especially stupid ones like that.

But the state does regulate insurance companies. Why do you think this is stupid? Okay, let us say that I am considering going all out to do my part to help the environment by moving into a TOD (transit oriented development) and riding a train and/or bus. To tempt me further in choosing to do this, the state then makes insurance companies provide me with a policy of weekend insurance. In other words, I'm agreeing to not drive my vehicle parking it for five days out of the week. For the time I am off work, I pay an insurance policy to drive my vehicle on those two days plus a small sum to cover me in case of a life threatening emergency.
Once again, this kills at least three birds with one stone.

[Mister Nifty]

Originally Posted by loves2read

the point is that in Texas insurance companies can't be forced to do much of anything...

and the fact is that even people who telecommute from home are often using their cars for non-work-related driving during the day...

I'm not speaking about telecommuting. I am speaking about seriously commuting by mass transit. Okay, here is another example. On the five days that I choose to commute by train or bus, rather than drive a car to drive to the store or whatever in the little time I am off, instead I decide to purchase myself a small scooter to get around. To insure this scooter can cost a person as little as a hundred dollars a year. I know this because I own one. Now, with a weekend insurance policy, I will be able on the five days that I commute by mass transit to ride this scooter. Still, I am saving money while, at the same time, I am being encouraged to commute by mass transit.
In other words, when a person decides to give up driving their vehicle most of the time, they shouldn't be penalized by the insurance companies for not driving. If there is any time that they need to drive again full time, then they should get the same rates they had before they decided to become diligent full time commuters by mass transit.

[Mister Nifty]

Originally Posted by BigD_JT_14221

I get your point but you are misusing the word "commuting"
I work 5 days a week and drive my car as no public transportation is available. Therefore I commute to work Monday through Friday.

If I worked from home I'd be telecommuting, which I think is what you're getting at(?)
I do like your idea about giving telecommuters an insurance discount but not driving at all M-F might be a bit tricky from a management and enforcement standpoint.
Any ideas that reduce the #'s of cars jamming our freeways and reduces our carbon footprint are good ideas!

I was talking about commuting by mass transit. As Texas has lots of insurance companies based here, I can see them fighting this idea. But times they are changing. I can also see new car dealerships fighting the idea of people getting out of their vehicles and getting themselves into mass transit instread. Strangely, the telecommunications companies might find it against their best interests to make talking on a cellphone while driving a serious offense approaching that of or equal to DUI. It's like the state is punching us in the nose and kicking us in the ass to do both the right and wrong things, respectively.

[loves2read]

who is going to pay for all the enlargements on public transportation--
if you have insurance companies making rules that effect ALL the state you need to consider that some metropolitan areas (not to even mention more rural ones) have NO public transportation--
Arlington is a large city with masses of people who work in Dallas or FTW and drive to their jobs--and there is NO public transportation except one weak, lame attempt to get people using buses...
how much do you think it would cost to set up public transportation in Arlington and PAY FOR IT--
that is one reason Arlington has fought doing it for decades....

Most of Tarrant county has become fairly highly populated and outside FTW city limits there is NO public tranportation --again a tremendous cost to start and maintain...
what you are proposing would reguire BILLIONS of dollars--on a state level

I am not saying using public transportation is bad or that having it is bad--
but you can't say have the insurance companies basically penalize people who don't USE/have access to public transportation
that is illegal probably...

AND most auto policies ask drivers how far they travel to work--if it is within a certain mileage amount I think they get a discount--

[Debsi]

Yuck.

Most people who do take DART have to drive their cars to the station anyway. I work a mile from home and I drive to work, my husband works from home. We shouldn't pay more car insurance than the person who takes the bus to work, how ridiculous. The mass transit users may (just as we may) drive their cars on weeknight evenings anyway. The transit here is simply not good enough to get people out of their cars to run errands.

[txtoal]

Sorry, TX is not ever going to be a mass transit commuter state. Too big. I can see maybe the major cities but even then, the cities are too spread out.