Tuesday, March 5, 2013
If you commute from Bethesda, would you use HOT lanes?
On Nov. 17, the 495 Express or HOT (High Occupancy Toll) lanes in Virginia - 14 miles of separate lanes stretching between the Springfield Interchange and just north of the Dulles Toll Road - offered a new pay model for motorists, with lane tolls changing based on real-time traffic conditions. The project's goal was to bring in more revenue to the state of Virginia, while easing traffic congestion. A Maryland Department of Transportation website states that the HOT lanes approach is not under consideration in Maryland, mainly due to “limitations on the ability to enforce lane restrictions and occupancy requirements.” However, Maryland is investigating creating “Express Lanes” which would feature EZ-Pass-like toll collection, and allow …
Sunday, February 24, 2013
The DC mayor wants to reduce commuter trips by 50 percent as part of making the capital the nation's "healthiest, greenest and most livable city."
Mayor Vincent Gray seeks to make Washington, DC, the nation’s “healthiest, greenest and most livable city” by 2032, according to a plan cited in a recent Washington Post article. The “Sustainable D.C.” plan details a number of policies that would improve the way that residents, commuters and visitors experience and travel across the city. The plan would focus on buildings and transportation primarily, requiring new buildings to generate energy equivalent to their usage, government offices would receive their power from wind farms, and would reduce vehicular traffic dramatically - ultimately having 50 percent of commuter trips by public transportation and 25 percent by bicycle or foot. Additionally, the plan would encourage citizens to grow…
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Metro is considering offering a monthly Metro pass as one of its fare options. Would you use it?
Would you pay a flat fee for a monthly Metro card? Metro is considering offering a monthly fare card as one of its ticket options, msnbc.com reported last week. "The Metro board is aware of the mounting customer frustration," msnbc.com reported. The monthly fare card would give "everyday riders something extra," msnbc.com added. The msnbc.com report continued, "hypothetically, if you have a $95 dollar pass and used it up before the end of the month, you could still ride the train for free. The hope is that such a pay structure would encourage people to use the train more, even at times when they normally would not. Riders could jump off the train, run [an] errand and get back on without having to pay again and again." Earlier this month, …
Frank
1:50 pm on Wednesday, March 6, 2013
The author claims: "The project's goal was to bring in more revenue to the state of Virginia, while easing traffic congestion." Got a source on that? No? THat's because bringing revenue to the state of Virginia was NOT a goal of the project. The project is a private concession and the operator of the toll lanes is a private company. Virginia does not get the toll revenue. However, the private … more ›