Archive for 20/03/2008

Car sharing

20/03/2008 by admin.

The UK’s first motorway car share lane was opened today by Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly, giving drivers a new opportunity to cut both their journey times and carbon footprints.
The 1.7-mile lane, built by the Highways Agency, links the southbound M606 near Bradford to the eastbound M62 towards Leeds. It is open to cars and taxis with two or more occupants, as well as buses and coaches, and bypasses the notoriously congested section where the two motorways merge.The DfT claims the new lane will save road users an average of six to eight minutes per journey - 30-40 minutes per week for regular commuters.Ruth Kelly said: “This new lane offers motorists the opportunity to reduce both their journey times and their carbon footprints. Currently, four out of five vehicles using this busy junction have only one occupant. I hope this new lane will encourage people to share their journeys, which will ease congestion, cut journey times and improve local air quality.”

A few years ago, I popped across the Pennines to look at the first non-motorway car sharing lane, again in Leeds. After deliberatly driving down it on my own to see what wouyld happen (I got a stern ticking off fr5om a bobby at the end) I actually counted the number of people in the cars.

A few days later I counted the number of people in the cars on an ordinary road, the A6 into Manchester.

Guess what……..

There was no difference!!!!

I’m with Stephen Norris on this. Having escaped the dreadful human beings on public transport , why on earth would I want them in my new car?????

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