Elaine and I carpooled together today for the first time in several weeks. Our schedules had not overlapped, so we had a lot to catch up on.
She might need a ride later on today to catch public transit to the airport, which I'm more than happy to provide. Of course, I have my own self-interest at heart. I may ask her to pick me up at the repair shop where my car will be serviced for the day, or to give me a ride all the way home because I didn't have my car at all that day. [I usually drive to her house because she's on my way to work.]
Forget the selfishness, we have become friends, and friends do favors for friends. There is the unspoken expectation that friends trade favors. Even if she NEVER pays me back or I stay in the black ink of our "favor bank," that's fine too. I'm happy to help her out.
The ONLY way carpools last is when the carpoolers like each other, or, at the very least, can stand each other. I've had to stop carpooling with people who are too loud, too late or too self-centered. They are far outnumbered by the carpool partners I've met and shared life stories with, laughed and keep in touch with.
Non-carpoolers don't understand the silver interiors that come with the best fellow carpoolers. You have to experience it to become a believer. To carpool, you take a risk that you might have to break up -- because it's a bad match, or your job situation changes. Carpooling is fluid and constantly changing.
Friday, September 05, 2008
Wednesday, September 03, 2008
Too much of a good thing?
One of my clients, the headquarters of a multinational corporation, has a problem. Their carpooling program is TOO successful.
They have 20 acres of parking for 3,000 employees, several hundred registered carpoolers and about 100 carpool-only spaces, in prime territory -- adjacent to the building.
Some employees start carpooling to qualify for the prime parking spaces, because they don't like to hike 10 minutes from the hinterlands.
The problem: a shortage of carpooling spaces. To incorporate more spaces would require a re-thinking of the available resources, and possibly investing of technology and labor to manage restricted parking.
The big picture is that carpooling is good for the environment and good for other commuters because it reduces congestion.
The little picture at this big company is: designating carpool-only spaces and enforcing the policies requires an investment.
Building more parking is NEVER cheap. "Free parking" is a misnomer. Depending on the cost of the land, the cost of a SINGLE parking space ranges from $3,000 to $225,000 [Manhattan], plus the annual cost of maintaining it. The life expectancy of a parking garage is about 30 years.
Shifting away from single-occupancy vehicle commuting shifting away from traditional infrastructure, which requires time, money and planning.
Maybe this company will make preferred parking for carpoolers a central attraction to their parking situation.
They have 20 acres of parking for 3,000 employees, several hundred registered carpoolers and about 100 carpool-only spaces, in prime territory -- adjacent to the building.
Some employees start carpooling to qualify for the prime parking spaces, because they don't like to hike 10 minutes from the hinterlands.
The problem: a shortage of carpooling spaces. To incorporate more spaces would require a re-thinking of the available resources, and possibly investing of technology and labor to manage restricted parking.
The big picture is that carpooling is good for the environment and good for other commuters because it reduces congestion.
The little picture at this big company is: designating carpool-only spaces and enforcing the policies requires an investment.
Building more parking is NEVER cheap. "Free parking" is a misnomer. Depending on the cost of the land, the cost of a SINGLE parking space ranges from $3,000 to $225,000 [Manhattan], plus the annual cost of maintaining it. The life expectancy of a parking garage is about 30 years.
Shifting away from single-occupancy vehicle commuting shifting away from traditional infrastructure, which requires time, money and planning.
Maybe this company will make preferred parking for carpoolers a central attraction to their parking situation.
Friday, August 29, 2008
Carpooling is an attitude
Growing up, in order to use a paper towel or get a ride somewhere, you needed to be a lawyer with a convincing argument. My parents focused on providing the essentials for their brood of nine children: shelter, food and love.
"Rides" was not on the list. They were as valuable as paper towels, and not to be wasted.
As a 16-year-old, I signed up for an adult education course at the University of Delaware, 13 miles away in Newark, Del. In Delaware in 1973, Wilmington to Newark was a long way and required a toll of either 10 or 15 cents.
You had to drive on back roads for a bit longer if you took the first exit on the new interstate, but you saved a nickel – when it meant something.
So did a car. Every person over age 16 was not expected to have a car. There were still one-car families. With a hoard of drivers, we had two cars, but I was only allowed to use it for the first class, when my mother instructed me to find a carpool.
In those days, we didn't have the Internet. I found a match the old-fashioned way. I asked if anyone was coming from Wilmington. Two guys, who must have been 20-something, offered me a ride.
Today, they might not have passed a CORI check. Most mothers wouldn't encourage their shapely teenage daughter to get into a car with two unknown men. My mother was a trusting soul. I really wanted to take the class. Even though it was awkward, I did what my mother said. I think I paid the tolls.
My mother created a life-long attitude in me towards carpooling. It doesn't hurt. Ask and you shall receive. You will save money and resources. Strangers can be trusted. Carpool partners are lurking all around.
Born in 1919 and 1921, my parents grew up in the Great Depression. They knew how to stretch a dollar or a nickel. My mother remembers frantically scouring their apartment in Chicago for seven cents so her mother, a physician, could ride the trolley downtown to go to work.
My father recalls saving for a year for $2 to buy a new tire for his bike. When he prepared to buy the tire, his family needed the cash. He started to save again, and after two years, bought the tire and his freedom on a bike.
Children today don't have the experience of delayed gratification. They don't understand that things are not the essence of life. At the end of my mother's long life, I gave her a bumper sticker, "The best things in life are not things," a phrase she lived by, and displayed on her car.
Thanks, Mom and Dad.
"Rides" was not on the list. They were as valuable as paper towels, and not to be wasted.
As a 16-year-old, I signed up for an adult education course at the University of Delaware, 13 miles away in Newark, Del. In Delaware in 1973, Wilmington to Newark was a long way and required a toll of either 10 or 15 cents.
You had to drive on back roads for a bit longer if you took the first exit on the new interstate, but you saved a nickel – when it meant something.
So did a car. Every person over age 16 was not expected to have a car. There were still one-car families. With a hoard of drivers, we had two cars, but I was only allowed to use it for the first class, when my mother instructed me to find a carpool.
In those days, we didn't have the Internet. I found a match the old-fashioned way. I asked if anyone was coming from Wilmington. Two guys, who must have been 20-something, offered me a ride.
Today, they might not have passed a CORI check. Most mothers wouldn't encourage their shapely teenage daughter to get into a car with two unknown men. My mother was a trusting soul. I really wanted to take the class. Even though it was awkward, I did what my mother said. I think I paid the tolls.
My mother created a life-long attitude in me towards carpooling. It doesn't hurt. Ask and you shall receive. You will save money and resources. Strangers can be trusted. Carpool partners are lurking all around.
Born in 1919 and 1921, my parents grew up in the Great Depression. They knew how to stretch a dollar or a nickel. My mother remembers frantically scouring their apartment in Chicago for seven cents so her mother, a physician, could ride the trolley downtown to go to work.
My father recalls saving for a year for $2 to buy a new tire for his bike. When he prepared to buy the tire, his family needed the cash. He started to save again, and after two years, bought the tire and his freedom on a bike.
Children today don't have the experience of delayed gratification. They don't understand that things are not the essence of life. At the end of my mother's long life, I gave her a bumper sticker, "The best things in life are not things," a phrase she lived by, and displayed on her car.
Thanks, Mom and Dad.
Thursday, August 28, 2008
What's a vanpool, Mommy? Watch the video, sweetie
The spike in gas prices has brought carpooling from backstage and into the spotlight. All of a sudden, we humble carpoolers are news, and are featured on the news and newspapers. Our simple, collaborative, green journey to work that has gone unnoticed for decades, has reached prime time.
Some carpools evolve into a vanpool -- in which a group of 7-15 people who live and work near each other lease a van and commute together. They commit to ride it monthly, designate volunteer drivers [some of whom ride free] and create an account to buy gas.
It's like a private, mobile, self-driven mini-bus that takes scores of cars off the road. I call it THE solution to "suburban mobility," also known as a suburb-to-suburb commute.
In Boston, only 25 percent of the daily commute is INTO downtown Boston, yet the lion's share of public transit is geared towards that journey. The other 75 percent -- which is suburb-to-suburb -- stays backstage.
My 26-mile daily commute is suburb-to-suburb. I start on back roads, spend 13 miles on the interstate, and finish on a four-lane state road. Because of the low volume of people who come this route, bus service does not make sense, BUT a vanpool would. And a vanpool is faster and more efficient than a bus.
However, a vanpool requires commitment, collaboration, drivers and riders. Riding transit or carpooling are a lot simpler. But vanpools save more money and vehicular wear-and-tear. They're practical on commutes LONGER than 20 miles.
My favorite quote of the vanpooler interviewed for this news report on a Detroit TV station http://www.clickondetroit.com/video/17259230/index.html is the reason why he likes vanpooling: "I get free consultants on technology and the law," referring to fellow vanpoolers' expertise.
The bonus of vanpooling or carpooling is the entertainment, education, laughter, consulting and friendship of fellow riders. You have to carpool or vanpool to experience it.
Some carpools evolve into a vanpool -- in which a group of 7-15 people who live and work near each other lease a van and commute together. They commit to ride it monthly, designate volunteer drivers [some of whom ride free] and create an account to buy gas.
It's like a private, mobile, self-driven mini-bus that takes scores of cars off the road. I call it THE solution to "suburban mobility," also known as a suburb-to-suburb commute.
In Boston, only 25 percent of the daily commute is INTO downtown Boston, yet the lion's share of public transit is geared towards that journey. The other 75 percent -- which is suburb-to-suburb -- stays backstage.
My 26-mile daily commute is suburb-to-suburb. I start on back roads, spend 13 miles on the interstate, and finish on a four-lane state road. Because of the low volume of people who come this route, bus service does not make sense, BUT a vanpool would. And a vanpool is faster and more efficient than a bus.
However, a vanpool requires commitment, collaboration, drivers and riders. Riding transit or carpooling are a lot simpler. But vanpools save more money and vehicular wear-and-tear. They're practical on commutes LONGER than 20 miles.
My favorite quote of the vanpooler interviewed for this news report on a Detroit TV station http://www.clickondetroit.com/video/17259230/index.html is the reason why he likes vanpooling: "I get free consultants on technology and the law," referring to fellow vanpoolers' expertise.
The bonus of vanpooling or carpooling is the entertainment, education, laughter, consulting and friendship of fellow riders. You have to carpool or vanpool to experience it.
Friday, August 22, 2008
25 percent reduction in traffic unclogs congestion
I spend about 15 minutes a day going the last 5 miles of my commute on four-lane arterial road - Route 9 in Framingham. Today, a Friday in August, there was no congestion because many people took the day off.
FACT: If only 25 percent of commuters don't show up, the congestion on most roads is eased.
If commuters on busy roads, like Route 9, 128 or 93 in MetroBoston for example, carpooled one day a week, a mere 20 percent of the time, traffic would be substantially diminished. We all would benefit. If half of all commuters would carpool two days a week, the same outcome would be achieved. Presto- no need to widen roads or sit in traffic daily.
Carpooling is like recycling and paying taxes. We might not like it, it's inconvenient.
But if we all contribute a little, the results are big.
Americans consider giving up driving alone as loathesome as going on a diet, bucking the consumerist traditions in December, or telling politically INcorrect jokes.
We Americans love the convenience and freedom of driving alone. Even giving up a little driving alone is considered painful, and as difficult as quitting something like sugar or smoking.
FACT: If only 25 percent of commuters don't show up, the congestion on most roads is eased.
If commuters on busy roads, like Route 9, 128 or 93 in MetroBoston for example, carpooled one day a week, a mere 20 percent of the time, traffic would be substantially diminished. We all would benefit. If half of all commuters would carpool two days a week, the same outcome would be achieved. Presto- no need to widen roads or sit in traffic daily.
Carpooling is like recycling and paying taxes. We might not like it, it's inconvenient.
But if we all contribute a little, the results are big.
Americans consider giving up driving alone as loathesome as going on a diet, bucking the consumerist traditions in December, or telling politically INcorrect jokes.
We Americans love the convenience and freedom of driving alone. Even giving up a little driving alone is considered painful, and as difficult as quitting something like sugar or smoking.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
TransMileneo -- worth importing from Colombia
About a decade ago, Colombian traffic "experts" were planning to build a second story of roads above congested streets to make way for more vehicles driven by one person.
Officials finally discarded the expensive, unsustainable, and ludicrous idea -- maybe after they found out about the Big Pig, I mean Big Dig, here in Boston.
Instead of spending billions of dollars [sound familiar?] to make way for more and more cars, they attacked the problem from a different angle, and created a network of bus rapid transit lanes connected to bikeways to transport the city's 7 million people.
TransMilenio moves 1.3 million people a day on buses going 17 to 25 mph, compared to 6 mph average for NYC buses. Bogata is close enough to the Equator to avoid rugged winter weather. They have a significant population of people unable to afford to own and operate cars.
Take a look --http://www.streetfilms.org/archives/bus-rapid-transit-bogota/. The video shows attended parking lots of bikes next to the TransMilenio stations. Using bus-only lanes, buses pull up to elevated platforms so strollers and wheelchairs roll right on. It's like an above-ground subway, built at a fraction of the cost.
Buses run continuously and dependably throughout the day and night. The system is so good, commuters from all walks of life use it. The main complaint is too many people use it!
Bikes are foundational to the system. TransMileneo encourages bike commuting to the station because it eliminates the need for neighborhood buses to bring people to the TransMilenio, and saves money by requiring fewer local buses to get people to the main stations. What's really impressed me is attended bike storage facilities at the transit stations.
Many commuters prefer public transit over carpooling because carpooling is so, personal. Riding a bus is impersonal. You have your private space, thoughts and music. You don't have to talk. You can take an earlier or later bus without conferring with your carpool partner. Great public transit enables the great American value of "Freedom of Movement," when I want it, where I want it.
Buses are typically disdained as lower class. People prefer rail and subways, which are expensive to build and not as flexible as buses. Bus Rapid Transit provides a cost-effective solution.
America- we're behind the trend. We need to go to Colombia to copy an idea worth importing.
Officials finally discarded the expensive, unsustainable, and ludicrous idea -- maybe after they found out about the Big Pig, I mean Big Dig, here in Boston.
Instead of spending billions of dollars [sound familiar?] to make way for more and more cars, they attacked the problem from a different angle, and created a network of bus rapid transit lanes connected to bikeways to transport the city's 7 million people.
TransMilenio moves 1.3 million people a day on buses going 17 to 25 mph, compared to 6 mph average for NYC buses. Bogata is close enough to the Equator to avoid rugged winter weather. They have a significant population of people unable to afford to own and operate cars.
Take a look --http://www.streetfilms.org/archives/bus-rapid-transit-bogota/. The video shows attended parking lots of bikes next to the TransMilenio stations. Using bus-only lanes, buses pull up to elevated platforms so strollers and wheelchairs roll right on. It's like an above-ground subway, built at a fraction of the cost.
Buses run continuously and dependably throughout the day and night. The system is so good, commuters from all walks of life use it. The main complaint is too many people use it!
Bikes are foundational to the system. TransMileneo encourages bike commuting to the station because it eliminates the need for neighborhood buses to bring people to the TransMilenio, and saves money by requiring fewer local buses to get people to the main stations. What's really impressed me is attended bike storage facilities at the transit stations.
Many commuters prefer public transit over carpooling because carpooling is so, personal. Riding a bus is impersonal. You have your private space, thoughts and music. You don't have to talk. You can take an earlier or later bus without conferring with your carpool partner. Great public transit enables the great American value of "Freedom of Movement," when I want it, where I want it.
Buses are typically disdained as lower class. People prefer rail and subways, which are expensive to build and not as flexible as buses. Bus Rapid Transit provides a cost-effective solution.
America- we're behind the trend. We need to go to Colombia to copy an idea worth importing.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Where to ride out a gas crisis
CNN named 10 places in America to "ride out a gas crisis"
http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2008/moneymag/0807/gallery.bplive_gas_crunch.moneymag/index.html.
Four of them are small towns, and the average commute is 8-10 minutes in Marquette, Mich.; Hays, Kan.; Laramie, Wyo.; and Aberdeen, S.D. I'm not sure where people work in these small towns, except as close as the local quick-stop, school or post office.
In three places, 11-12 percent of people tele-commute from home -- Naples, Fla., Bainbridge Island, Wash., and Westport, Conn. Commuters there live in a beautiful place and are too remote, too educated and too wealthy to drive to work daily.
In a university town, State College, Penn., 42 percent bike or walk to work. That's cool. It's part of the culture. Biking and walking are the high-status ways to get around. Footpower is friendlier than car-power. Being a university town, it's also fashionable to live frugally, with fewer cars.
Outside of New York City in Hoboken, N.J., a majority of commuters take advantage of one of the nation's finest public transit systems to get to work. Only 25 percent of commuters drive alone to work in Hoboken. I'd take the bus, too, if it ran every 15 minutes, within a stone's throw of my house.
My favorite place is the Santa Paula, Call, where 29 percent of commuters carpool to work. Want to know why? They're migrant workers in the Citrus Capital of the World. The farm workers share vehicles to commute to the orange, lemon, avocado and strawberry fields.
The message here? The most devoted carpoolers in America are migrant workers. It explains why carpooling is such a tough sell, especially if you can afford the luxury of your own car. We aspire to do what the wealthy in our society do, not the poorest.
http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2008/moneymag/0807/gallery.bplive_gas_crunch.moneymag/index.html.
Four of them are small towns, and the average commute is 8-10 minutes in Marquette, Mich.; Hays, Kan.; Laramie, Wyo.; and Aberdeen, S.D. I'm not sure where people work in these small towns, except as close as the local quick-stop, school or post office.
In three places, 11-12 percent of people tele-commute from home -- Naples, Fla., Bainbridge Island, Wash., and Westport, Conn. Commuters there live in a beautiful place and are too remote, too educated and too wealthy to drive to work daily.
In a university town, State College, Penn., 42 percent bike or walk to work. That's cool. It's part of the culture. Biking and walking are the high-status ways to get around. Footpower is friendlier than car-power. Being a university town, it's also fashionable to live frugally, with fewer cars.
Outside of New York City in Hoboken, N.J., a majority of commuters take advantage of one of the nation's finest public transit systems to get to work. Only 25 percent of commuters drive alone to work in Hoboken. I'd take the bus, too, if it ran every 15 minutes, within a stone's throw of my house.
My favorite place is the Santa Paula, Call, where 29 percent of commuters carpool to work. Want to know why? They're migrant workers in the Citrus Capital of the World. The farm workers share vehicles to commute to the orange, lemon, avocado and strawberry fields.
The message here? The most devoted carpoolers in America are migrant workers. It explains why carpooling is such a tough sell, especially if you can afford the luxury of your own car. We aspire to do what the wealthy in our society do, not the poorest.
Monday, July 28, 2008
Finding a carpool partner is a bit like a dating service
While speaking about the dozen people with whom I've carpooled in the past three years -- the good, the great, the too loud, the too late and the long-winded -- someone in the audience said, "Finding a carpool sounds like a dating service."
He nailed it. That's why carpooling is so tricky. Our cars are personal spaces, and our commutes are potentially long.
In a two-person carpool, compatibility is a MUST, not an option. For carpools with three or more, even the most odious, loud-mouthed person can hopefully be diluted by the other people in the carpool.
Most carpools have two people for maximum simplicity and flexibility. So your match must meet three standards:
1. You must work near each other. Otherwise, you will waste a lot of time driving. You DON'T have to live near each other, just on the way to work or near a meeting place.
2. You must work the same hours -- or be willing to compromise on the days you carpool. The compromise must be made FREELY, or else it will not work out for long. One person will start resenting it.
3. You must be compatible -- especially in a two-person carpool. Then the carpool will be enjoyable. You'll be willing to do small favors for each other and will look forward to your time together. Even if that time is spent in silence. Talking machines can be very annoying.
I am not able to drive to work with people who have loud voices, talk too much, have not mastered the art of listening, or are unreliable or uncommunicative. We don't have to agree on everything. I can stand carpooling with Republicans -- as long as they listen to my perspective, too. Or maybe we avoid the topic of politics altogether.
My carpool partners and I are not dating or getting married, but we sort of are -- because we do drive together plenty. It's just that the destination is work and not a date.
He nailed it. That's why carpooling is so tricky. Our cars are personal spaces, and our commutes are potentially long.
In a two-person carpool, compatibility is a MUST, not an option. For carpools with three or more, even the most odious, loud-mouthed person can hopefully be diluted by the other people in the carpool.
Most carpools have two people for maximum simplicity and flexibility. So your match must meet three standards:
1. You must work near each other. Otherwise, you will waste a lot of time driving. You DON'T have to live near each other, just on the way to work or near a meeting place.
2. You must work the same hours -- or be willing to compromise on the days you carpool. The compromise must be made FREELY, or else it will not work out for long. One person will start resenting it.
3. You must be compatible -- especially in a two-person carpool. Then the carpool will be enjoyable. You'll be willing to do small favors for each other and will look forward to your time together. Even if that time is spent in silence. Talking machines can be very annoying.
I am not able to drive to work with people who have loud voices, talk too much, have not mastered the art of listening, or are unreliable or uncommunicative. We don't have to agree on everything. I can stand carpooling with Republicans -- as long as they listen to my perspective, too. Or maybe we avoid the topic of politics altogether.
My carpool partners and I are not dating or getting married, but we sort of are -- because we do drive together plenty. It's just that the destination is work and not a date.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Carpooling is HOT in the media
Check out this story that features companies and carpoolers in my program, the MetroWest/495 Transportation Management Association.
My job is to promote carpooling, bike commuting, taking public transit, vanpooling and walking to work.
If the Boston Globe cares about it, finally, it must be news.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/07/24/a_new_credo_for_commuters_more_is_less/
My job is to promote carpooling, bike commuting, taking public transit, vanpooling and walking to work.
If the Boston Globe cares about it, finally, it must be news.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/07/24/a_new_credo_for_commuters_more_is_less/
"Why Won't We Carpool"
Carpooling is making it into the mainstream of American media thanks to the latest four-buck a gallon fuel-frenzy. The Boston Globe Magazine cover feature story, "Why Won't We Carpool: it's cheaper. It's greener. And nobody's doing it" by Alison Lobron, was accompanied by a photo of a crowded road and an empty HOV lane. http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/magazine/articles/2008/07/20/anybody_want_a_ride/
Why aren't we doing it?
My carpool buddy Rick summed it up this morning, when he dropped me off. "I don't like the inconvenience of carpooling. But once I'm doing it, I enjoy it."
Like most carpools, he and John don't carpool daily. They drive together on Tuesdays and Thursdays, which leaves three other days for the American luxury of going when we want, where we want, and how we want, preferably on a "free" road without congestion, in perfect condition, to "free" parking.
John and Rick are from my old carpool -- since I moved I have formed new carpools. I called them because my new carpoolers were on vacation this week. I was lonely and the thought of $8 in gas [plus wear and tear] to get to and from work seemed a waste.
Especially in Boston, there's little motivation to carpool because we have scant HOV lanes. The cover photo was of the only HOV lane I know of in Massachusetts. Route 3 to NH was widened without a HOV lane. Route 128/95 is planned to expand to five lanes, with no HOV lane.
As Lobron pointed out in the Globe story, elsewhere in the US, HOV lanes provide motivation for people to carpool because driveres get there FASTER. 90 percent of Americans own cars, and we shoulder their exorbitant cost --because they bring us status, comfort, privacy and convenient transportation. Money is not always the issue. We can earn more money. We all have the same amount of time.
Rick and John can afford to drive alone. They enjoy carpooling. The side benefits are they save a few bucks and they are doing something good for the earth.
$4 gas is motivating people with less dispensable income to drive less. As Lobron demonstrates, we have still not hit the tipping point for the majority of Americans to change their driving habits, which would influence the transportation planners and civil engineers to include HOV and bike lanes in road design.
The crew of one of the TV morning shows taped themselves carpooling to work together. It was quaint. They made a point. Carpooling is in the mainstream media, but not in the mainstream American consciousness.
Giving up our addiction to driving alone is like going on a diet -- it's easy to talk about, it's the right thing to do, but our old friends sugar-butter-chocolate are always there and so tempting, just like driving alone.
Why aren't we doing it?
My carpool buddy Rick summed it up this morning, when he dropped me off. "I don't like the inconvenience of carpooling. But once I'm doing it, I enjoy it."
Like most carpools, he and John don't carpool daily. They drive together on Tuesdays and Thursdays, which leaves three other days for the American luxury of going when we want, where we want, and how we want, preferably on a "free" road without congestion, in perfect condition, to "free" parking.
John and Rick are from my old carpool -- since I moved I have formed new carpools. I called them because my new carpoolers were on vacation this week. I was lonely and the thought of $8 in gas [plus wear and tear] to get to and from work seemed a waste.
Especially in Boston, there's little motivation to carpool because we have scant HOV lanes. The cover photo was of the only HOV lane I know of in Massachusetts. Route 3 to NH was widened without a HOV lane. Route 128/95 is planned to expand to five lanes, with no HOV lane.
As Lobron pointed out in the Globe story, elsewhere in the US, HOV lanes provide motivation for people to carpool because driveres get there FASTER. 90 percent of Americans own cars, and we shoulder their exorbitant cost --because they bring us status, comfort, privacy and convenient transportation. Money is not always the issue. We can earn more money. We all have the same amount of time.
Rick and John can afford to drive alone. They enjoy carpooling. The side benefits are they save a few bucks and they are doing something good for the earth.
$4 gas is motivating people with less dispensable income to drive less. As Lobron demonstrates, we have still not hit the tipping point for the majority of Americans to change their driving habits, which would influence the transportation planners and civil engineers to include HOV and bike lanes in road design.
The crew of one of the TV morning shows taped themselves carpooling to work together. It was quaint. They made a point. Carpooling is in the mainstream media, but not in the mainstream American consciousness.
Giving up our addiction to driving alone is like going on a diet -- it's easy to talk about, it's the right thing to do, but our old friends sugar-butter-chocolate are always there and so tempting, just like driving alone.
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