Carpool lane hate (yet another reason why I should be in charge)

I can’t think of a bigger waste of space in California than carpool lanes (well, maybe golf courses). Carpool lanes are put on freeways to encourage commuters to rideshare. In theory, carpoolers are rewarded with a lane that has less traffic and shortens their commute. It sounds like a lovely idea and the intentions are honorable. Less cars on the road means a cleaner environment, decrease in freeway congestion, lowering of gas prices, and a more productive and happy workforce.

But it’s all a load of crap.

First of all, NO ONE in California carpools–at least not in SoCal. The Girlfriend and I both have the same employer. We both live in the same complex. Yet we each take separate cars to work because our shifts don’t start or end at the same time. Carpooling isn’t feasible because I’d end up sitting around with nothing to do for 90 minutes in the morning; she’d do the same in the afternoon. And we’re lucky enough to identical starting points and destinations.

The idea of strangers commuting together every morning is utterly ridiculous. Rush hour traffic is impossible–on and off the freeways. If I had to go two miles out of my way to pick someone up every morning, it would add 15 minutes to my commute. It already takes me 15 minutes to go to work–do you really think I’m gonna go out of my way to pick someone up? In SoCal, everyone and everything is so spread out. For a carpool to be successful, my next-door neighbor would have to work in the same building as me with identical shifts. And that’s just not the world I live in.

When I worked at Disneyland, I would frequently carpool because I had friend who also worked there. The Disney corporation encouraged carpooling (probably so they could issue a press release to show how environmentally friendly they were) and gave rewards to those who did. I remember one day, the park was really busy and the brass wanted me to stay later. I told them I couldn’t do it because I was scheduled to be off the same time my ride was. If I stayed late, I’d hafta find another way home. They didn’t care…and I had to fight with management just to get off work at the time I was schedule to leave.

But I got off-track. The point is, for carpooling to be feasible; a lot of far-reaching logistics have to fall in place. There are simply too many variables and most–nay, nobody–does it. As yourself: how many times have you carpooled anywhere? The only time there’s more than two people in the car is because you were both planning to go somewhere together in the first place.

Which brings me to my next point. In California, a vehicle only needs two occupants to drive in the carpool lane. There’s no mention of passenger age or relation to driver. There’s no requirements of ridesharing or even proof that it’s an actual carpool. Two occupants; one car–that’s it. This results in moms driving in the carpool lane even though their only passenger is 14 months old and sitting in the back seat. Married couples driving to the beach enjoy carpool lane perks even though I wouldn’t call that ridesharing. When I gotta take my folks to the airport, we take the carpool lane–but we’re not carpooling ’cause they’d be in the car anyway.

And that’s exactly what it comes down to. Every SoCal freeway has one lane, designated for carpooling. It’s designed to encourage folks to rideshare, but the reality of is the people who use it were going to be two-to-a-car anyway. Nobody says, “Gee whiz–I’d sure like to take the carpool lane. Let me find someone to drive to work with.” We simply don’t do that. SoCalers care far more for their cars and convenience than the environment. We simply love to drive too much. Besides, carpooling is a pain the ass. This is evident in how backup the freeway is every morning…and how empty the carpool lane is.

I think if we really wanted to ease freeway congestion, we’d open up those carpool lanes. Having an extra lane would go a long way toward alleviating some of the traffic problems we have. But the government would never do this–not when carpooling makes us look so environmentally friendly. But if they actually took the time to study it–do a little market research and realize how little we care to carpool, combined with the number of non-ridesharers in the carpool lanes–they realize what a giant waste of time carpool lanes are. Then again, waste is pretty much all the government is about in the first place.