Thursday, 16 June 2005
Time to revisit car pooling rules
United Future's Auckland issues spokesperson, MP Paul Adams, says it's time to take another look at the rules covering
carpooling if Auckland's traffic congestion problems are to be solved.
"Even with $10.7 billion to be spent on the roading network, we're told that the average speed on the Auckland transport
network will continue to slow.
"In the past, carpooling required three people as a minimum per vehicle and it was not widely taken up.
"But anyone who drives on Auckland's motorways during rush hour (or any other time) will see that the vast majority of
vehicles are carrying only one person."
Mr Adams says if the rules were changed to so that car pooling required only two people per vehicle, then the time taken
to pick up only one other person, rather than two, would dramatically cut down the time required and would halve the
number of vehicles on the roads.
"With the greater use of bus lanes well under way, perhaps we again need to think of allowing cars with three or more
people in them the right to use the bus lanes, but then also dedicate the outside fast lane for cars with two or more
passengers.
"Perhaps the local authorities could run a competition to think of the best incentive to encourage people into car
pooling. Who knows? This might bring about a real commonsense solution and the speed of our motorways may again be able
to increase instead of continually decreasing," said Mr Adams.
ENDS