BUILDING A CASE FOR HOT LANES: A NEW APPROACH TO REDUCING URBAN HIGHWAY CONGESTION
暂无分享,去创建一个
Increasingly, high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes are being called into question. Transportation researchers find them to be of limited value in relieving congestion, and elected officials are under increasing pressure to convert these limited-access lanes into general-purpose lanes. A number of metro areas are experimenting with a different alternative: opening up these limited-access lanes to paying customers. The new approach is called high-occupancy/toll (HOT) lanes. As of early 1999, two such projects are in operation in California and another in Texas. Because they give motorists a choice between (1) continuing to use general-purpose lanes at no direct charge and (2) using express lanes at a specific, direct price, HOT lanes are an example of "value pricing" (charging a price only for a higher level of service).