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Small Vehicle Lane

Encouraging Commuters to Drive Small Vehicles
  (+7)
(+7)
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Instead of devoting a central lane to carpoolers only, in such places as California, why not open them up to the small vehicle owners as well.

Of course I am thinking of the SmartCar and possibly some quiter motorbikes as well. There could be size or efficiency limits to who can travel on these direct lanes.

Similarly there could be a tax break for people who can prove there family has only one vehicle and it is considered a "small-sized" form of transportation.

johnbakersmon, Aug 28 2008

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       With all the extra traffic, wouldn't those carpool lanes get congested?
ldischler, Aug 28 2008
  

       Why quiter motorbikes?
mylodon, Aug 29 2008
  

       It may be possible to "squeeze in" an extra, narrower, lane by a bit of road redesign. That would automatically exclude larger vehicles. Perhaps some width could be trimmed from the hard shoulder. [+]
8th of 7, Aug 29 2008
  

       It has often struck me that more but narrower lanes would improve congestion. At the moment all lanes seem to be marked evenly and so are based on the widest vehicles (trucks). So having an extra lane for narrow cars would seem to be a good idea. Not only would this encourage the use of more economic cars, but might also discourage the current design bloat of cars. Reducing frontal area can be a way of reducing drag. Note that the now discontinued Audi A2, which now looks very narrow, is actually wider than the first two marks of Ford Cortina.
Gordon Comstock, Aug 29 2008
  

       "Why quiter motorbikes?"   

       Because it seems that a motorbike isn't desirable unless it is missing its damned muffler.
johnbakersmon, Aug 29 2008
  

       Ok, so let's make the exit/entrance ramp about 5 feet wide and then have a big colorful sign with the picture of a giraffe or an elephant saying, "your car must be this wide to get on the commuter lane".
Jscotty, Aug 30 2008
  
      
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