The Cure for Traffic: Part 1
Considering I sit in traffic a minimum of an hour and a half a day (which is 7.5 hours a week, which is 15 full days a year, which is 1 full year out of my life over the course of my working career) I have plenty of time to come up with better ways to run our freeways. Here is my first suggestion:
Require that all students (High School through Grad Student) and teachers (Preschool through University) take public transportation to and from school rather than letting them drive.
I know it sounds harsh, but those of us who drive back and forth to work everyday can tell you as a general rule that when school is out, traffic is light, and when school is in, traffic is heavy. It’s that simple. You want less traffic on the freeways? Eliminate the number of people driving. Plus its good for the environment and all that.
Also, I’m sure the local/state governments and school unions can figure out a way to make money on this (an extra bit in the tuition to pay for bus passes, or something), and teachers and students can save money on gas. So, everybody wins.
Think about it.
I was reading an article on a blog called “Freakonomics” a while back about LA Traffic and why it’s so notoriously bad. There were two statements that changed my perspective on LA traffic and its root cause: (1) LA is second in the nation in “transit patronage” and relatively high in “ridership rate” and (2) LA has the fewest “freeway lane miles per resident” of the 36 largest metro areas in the country.
I guess that means there are two solutions — reduce the amount of residents (and thereby eliminating drivers) or increase the number of lanes on the existing freeways.