5 ms·

I wonder if traffic would improve if didn't take away lanes for carpooling.

• Tiktaalik 10y ago
  It wouldn't. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Induced_demand https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Induced_demand
  • bobbles 10y ago
    This doesnt really explain why it wouldn't. In fact it talks about the exact opposite where people are choosing cars over public transport
    • Tiktaalik 10y ago
      More lanes means a temporary decrease in congestion, which incentivizes people to choose automobiles as their primary form of transportation, which fills up the roads again. Repeat this cycle endlessly as roads are widened. Basically widening roads doesn't decrease traffic in the long term. This is why LA and Houston and other car dominated places have wider roads than anywhere else and terrible traffic. Google "Induced Demand" and you will find a ton of articles about this such as this one. http://www.citylab.com/commute/2015/11/californias-dot-admits-that-more-roads-mean-more-traffic/415245/ http://www.citylab.com/commute/2015/11/californias-dot-admit... The core issue is that automobile oriented infrastructure infrastructure isn't very efficient at moving people in the first place. If you're going to spend a lot of money to increase transportation capacity, extra car lanes is a poor choice.
      • thesimpsons1022 10y ago
        in theory yes but i don't see any proof that traffic would increase as much as the increased capacity. reminds me of bogus economic arguments. in your universe we could make a 10,000 lane highway and there would still be congestion.
• ethanbond 10y ago
  Traffic would definitely improve if we just taxed the living daylights out of car ownership.