From: woycke@smiley.mitre.org (Daniel Woycke)
Newsgroups: dc.general,dc.driving
Subject: Re: HOV and why it should be!
Date: 4 Sep 92 16:52:14 GMT
Followup-To: dc.driving
Organization: The MITRE Corporation, McLean, VA

In article <1992Sep4.140856.17878@hfsi.uucp> ata@hfsi.UUCP (John Ata FSO) writes:
>In article <1992Sep3.195012.10751@linus.mitre.org> woycke@smiley.mitre.org (Daniel Woycke) writes:
>>Well, personally I think the people who are complaining about traffic
>>on the toll road should think about the reasons for that traffic. If
>>everybody was in a carpool I bet traffic would flow smoothly. Perhaps
>
>That's exactly the fallacy with the HOV restriction.  It assumes that
>by making driving hell for everyone, that we will all see the light and
>car pool.  Yet, I haven't seen one survey or study to support this conclusion.
>
>>you could use mass transit.  The express busses from Dulles Corner,
>>Herndon, and Reston are nice (I used to take them). Or perhaps you
>>could do as I do 2-3 times per week, I bike in (15 miles from
>>Herndon). I would do it more, but my wife doesn't want me to risk
>>riding in a thuderstorm and I can't take the bike on a Metrobus.  You
>>folks who piss and moan about it taking forever to get to work should
>>think about the cause of congestion, its all them darn cars.
>
>No, it's a shortage of lanes, sorry. The cars were there first before the
>lane was taken away.
>
The lane should never have been added in the first place. It had
always been intended as an HOV lane and should have remained as such.
No one would have complained except they got a long time with three
lanes and grew to like it. The problem is not the lack of a third
lane, it is sane transit policies in Northern VA. If the only regular
bus that runs from Herndon didn't take an hour to get to Tyson's more
people would use mass transit.
>>
>>The reason the carpool lane was put in was to reduce polution. Yes,
>
>Surely you jest!  Show me how pollution is being reduced by this fiasco.
>A car taking 2-3 times as long to make a commute is surely going to
>pollute 2-3 times as much if not more.
>

I didn't say that the car pool lane will reduce polution, I said that
the reason it was put in was to reduce polution.
 
>>Virginia did it for money, but the money was given to reduce polution.
>>I personally think that the implementation of the HOV lanes on the
>>toll road stinks (there should be physical separation), but I think it
>>is a good idea. I think the bus system should be upgraded as well as
>>the train ideas accelerated. I would also like one lane on Rt. 7
>>reserved for bicyclists, but thats dreaming.
>
>If people want to reasonably encourage car pooling, how about charging
>reduced tolls for car poolers?  They now have in some cases toll booths
>reserved for HOV only.  This would encourage car poolers, while not
>penalizing those who cannot carpool.  It would also be enforceable.
>
I agree, except that people who do not carpool already pay three times
as much for gas, and this has not changed anything. I guess I have
always felt that punishment is more convincing than rewards. How about
raising gas taxes too?

>>
>>Thank You,
>>
>>Daniel W. Woycke             |"I went out drinking with Thomas 
>
>You're welcome.
>-- 
>John G. Ata - Technical Consultant | Internet:     ata@hfsi.com
>HFS, Inc.		  VA20     |     UUCP:     uunet!hfsi!ata
>7900 Westpark Drive	 MS:601	   |    Voice:	(703) 827-6810
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Thank You,

Daniel W. Woycke             |"I went out drinking with Thomas 
The MITRE Corporation	     |Paine..." -- Billy Bragg
7525 Colshire Drive (MS Z213)|"But I am still thirsty..."
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woycke@mitre.org, woycke@smiley.mitre.org