Well, it looks like government officials are finally getting a little smarter and just approved the new toll-lanes which will basically allow anyone to ride carpool lanes by paying for it.

I think this is a very good idea because even though we have lots of carpool lanes all over the bay area, not that many people are using it and becomes a waste of resource.

By having these “toll” options, we will have many benefits including:

1. Cops will not try to pull people over for ridiculous carpool tickets which can cost $325 at minimum.  I remember getting my carpool ticket on bay bridge and the cop tells me, “You are donating money for the new bridge.”

Well, I want things to be clear, I don’t want cops to be forced to make money for the city, pulling over innocent drivers who might have made a minor mistake and charge them hundreds of dollars.

By having toll-lanes, government will be able to make money from the drivers who use this lane instead of penalizing innocent people.

2. Yey, people with a busy life can finally buy their way to speedy highways.  This will also congest the regular lanes less as those paying-riders will be ousted.

3. More money for the government and less pressure on cops to ticket citizens.  I do agree cops usually do a good job except when I see 20 cop cars pulling over 20 cars at a time just to add bank to the city.

Solo drivers would be able to a pay a toll for the privilege of using carpool lanes to speed their commutes on a dozen highways from the South Bay to Sonoma and east under a plan approved Wednesday by Bay Area transportation officials.

The system would be phased in over nearly two decades, starting in late 2010 or early 2011, and the first pilot projects would open on two congested corridors: southbound Interstate 680 over the Sunol Grade and both directions of Interstate 580 between Livermore and the I-680 interchange, according to the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, a regional planning and funding agency, which is coordinating the plan.

via sfgate

More resources

511.org

Tags: carpool lanes, cop cars, corridors, good job, government officials, highways, interchange, livermore, metropolitan transportation, minor mistake, new bridge, pilot projects, regional planning, solo drivers, sunol grade, transportation commission, transportation officials

This entry was posted on Sunday, September 7th, 2008 at 8:17 pm and is filed under Living, News.
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