Thursday 20th March 2008

UK's First Car Share Lane Opens

Government says there could be more car share lanes to come

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Gov hopes car sharing will cut congestion

The UK’s first motorway car share lane was opened today by Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly.

The £5.3 million, 1.7-mile lane links the southbound M606 near Bradford to the eastbound M62 towards Leeds.

The Government says that people using the lane can be both green and cut journey times if they carry two or more people.

Kelly said that similar traffic measures could be introduced on another 500 miles of motorway.

The lane gives priority to motorists joining the eastbound carriageway of the M62 and it is claimed commuters will save an estimated 30 to 40 minutes a week.

Ruth Kelly said: ‘This new lane offers motorists the opportunity to reduce both their journey times and their carbon footprints.

'Currently, four out of five vehicles using this busy junction have only one occupant. I hope this new lane will encourage people to share their journeys, which will ease congestion, cut journey times and improve local air quality.

‘The Government is committed to finding innovative ways to get more from our existing roads and improving journeys for motorists.

'We have identified around 500 miles of motorway as potential priority sites for new traffic management measures, which may also include more car share lanes.’

[ross_stig]

will they be using the hard shoulder for this? if not...then it would make congestion considerably worse. if they are, and someone breaks down, might be interesting. and how will it improve air quality? because it will cut CO2 by an unbelievably small amount? and its not CO2 that affects air quality, its NOx and SO2 which is bad, yet noone mentions this do they.

[vetteheadracer]

Segmented traffic lanes cause more congestion and by association more pollution so as usually Ms Kelly is taking out of her stter.

[anonymous-user]

inflatable person + clothes = instant passenger
and just deflate your passenger once you reach your destination and store them away in the boot!

[ibiza_warrior]

It is promotting car sharing, becasue of all the taxes the governemtn is creating on petrol and other items, they want to make you feel like you are getting something back by cutting the cue if you share with others.

[PhantomPH]

The best part of this is that there is apparently no 'auto-detection'. The police will be watching and anyone caught flouting the rule will get a £30 fine.

So this short stretch of motorway now has at least 1 traffic officer permanently stationed there to monitor the lane?!!!!!! Surely it would have to be 2 as well - unless they care going to photograph the car as evidence otherwise it's your word against theirs.

Madness. Come on, who joins the police force to sit and watch a fking carshare lane?

P~

Edit for source - Sky news "A Department of Transport spokesman said West Yorkshire Police will be on the look out for anyone flouting the two-person rule. Those who ignore the signs and get caught can expect a £30 fixed penalty ticket."

Edited by PhantomPH on Thursday 20th March 10:24

[Gixer]

PhantomPH said:

Madness. Come on, who joins the police force to sit and watch a fking carshare lane?

P~

Jobsworths

How about people like myself. My job involves driving from site to site. More delays then and even fewer calls per day.

[sirtyro]

Article said:

The Government is committed to finding innovative ways to get more from our existing roads and improving journeys for motorists

Do they just sit around a big table for 10 mins decide that the innovative way will be tax and then compare 2nd home kitchens?!

Its a shame ruth kelly wasnt standing in the lane when it opened.

[chris_w666]

Hmm, so car sharing works if we are colonised and all live and work in the same place. If I was to car share with my colleagues id end up driving all over the place causing more pollution and using more fuel!

Maybe they northern rock thing was the start, the government want to run everything and then move us all into communist style tower blocks, allocate us 1 state controlled car per 2 households and keep everyone poor by taxing anyone who can afford to buy things to death!

[Ug_lee]

As said above I really hope they are using the hard shoulder. Otherwise one lane for everyone else will mean even if you have 2 people in your car, you'll be queuing for a long time simply to get on the car sharing lane. Same thing happens with bus lanes, just creates a backup somewhere else delaying even more the vehicles that are allowed to use it

Edited by Ug_lee on Thursday 20th March 10:40

[moosepig]

@ sirtyro.
There are 3 solutions to congestion IMHO:

1. Build more roads.
2. Make existing roads wider.
3. Er, that's it.

The idea that restricting use of a lane is going to CUT congestion is complete and utter rubbish. People generally car-share to save money, not to cut their journey times. Wide-scale car sharing would need areas building similar to a park and ride where people can meet up to share vehicles; not everyone lives AND works close enough together for a car share to be convenient, and if it's not convenient then people won't do it. We use private transport for, among other reasons, its door-to-door convenience and lack of timetable. Public transport has been sold off so that's never going to be part of any solution.

Typical infant school thinking from an increasingly incompetent government.

[Vooley]

I remember reading somewhere that the government is thinking about implementing technology that can measure the body heat within a car to determine the number of occupants in these lanes.

If so looks like ill be taking the dog with me to work!

Has anyone got a link to this?

[tommyg]

Article said:

The lane gives priority to motorists joining the eastbound carriageway of the M62 and it is claimed commuters will save an estimated 30 to 40 minutes a week.

40 mins a week? so assuming 5 days, two trips a day you save 4 minutes each trip?

Well whoop de fking doo! Someone really had their thinking cap on that day!

[tps23]

pixiepete said:

inflatable person + clothes = instant passenger
and just deflate your passenger once you reach your destination and store them away in the boot!

and a great way to dust off that inflateable doll you've hidden for years from the missus

[lockup]

tommyg said:

Article said:

The lane gives priority to motorists joining the eastbound carriageway of the M62 and it is claimed commuters will save an estimated 30 to 40 minutes a week.

40 mins a week? so assuming 5 days, two trips a day you save 4 minutes each trip?

Well whoop de fking doo! Someone really had their thinking cap on that day!

Maybe the journey time of the car sharers will remain the same, but those in the other lanes will have 4 minutes ADDED to their journey time!

[Fetchez la vache]

Vooley said:

I remember reading somewhere that the government is thinking about implementing technology that can measure the body heat within a car to determine the number of occupants in these lanes.

If so looks like ill be taking the dog with me to work!

Has anyone got a link to this?

something like this i imagine..
http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/science_tech...

[Captain Anson]

I'd happily car share...

With someone who lived in my house or very near
Was always ready to go to work at the time I want to go
Doesn't mind that I rarely have the same routine week to week
Is ok with the fact I may leave at 6:00 to go to Barnsley
Is ok that I don't have a meeting till 13:00 in Reading
Is happy to pay £142.00 for a train ticket to London
Is ready to leave work when I do
Doesn't mind being late home when I get stuck with a customer
If I feel ill at work is happy to come home.
Is never sick themselves
Never farts in the car, but doesn't mind if I do
Never has too much garlic the night before, but doesn't care if I've had a chilli garlic madras
Doesn't smoke
Doesn't mind if I drive all the time
Is happy to listen to my music
Only talks about interesting stuff

Lets see now....

Oh hang on, thats never going to work!!

Who are these witless goons!

Cpn A

[Snooglefinder]

£5.3m for 1.7 miles?

That's £3.1m per mile!

Over £3 million pounds per mile!........

Amazing

[telecat]

Whoopie, That stretch of road is the Shortest bit of Motorway I know. You take less than a minute to traverse it even when it is busy.

[anonymous-user]

tps23 said:

pixiepete said:

inflatable person + clothes = instant passenger
and just deflate your passenger once you reach your destination and store them away in the boot!

and a great way to dust off that inflateable doll you've hidden for years from the missus

[J16GY]

As was mentioned before - simple solution:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/A-BLOW-UP-DOLL-FREE-P-P_W0QQ...

You might even be able to pick up a 'second hand' one for less... but I wouldnt know of course!