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The HOV lanes that we’ve paid for but seldom use are just another reminder of junk science gone mad. But for the sake of argument, let’s pretend they actually do what they’re supposed to do, which is to get people out of single-occupancy vehicles. If we then allow single-occupancy drivers into those lanes, at a premium of course, that will completely undermine the supposed value of the HOV lanes.

So anyone who advocates for HOV lanes and is in favor of HOT lanes is admitting that their stated goal really wasn’t the stated goal after all. So what was the goal? What’s the purpose of HOV lanes if they’re opened to anyone who is willing to pay for it (again)?

I have not seen any qualitative studies that show that HOV lanes actually worked for their intended purpose. Every study merely counts the vehicles using the lanes and those that aren’t using them at the same time and compares the numbers. But they never stop to figure out if the people using the HOV lanes would have been in HOV vehicles anyway. And until that study is done (objectively, I might add) then there’s still no justification for having them.

Now they want to charge for using it. What hypocrisy! If they really believed that HOV lanes worked they’d let them continue to be effective. By adding more non-HOV vehicles they’re basically returning the lanes to general purpose lanes.

So I guess greedy politicians will put aside their ethics for money.

Yeah, I know. I’m stating the obvious.

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 28th, 2008 at 3:48 pm and is filed under Puget Sound, Transportation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.