Eli5 How are carpool lanes supposed to help traffic? It seems like having another lane open to everyone would make things better?

Question

I live in Los Angeles, and we have some of the worst traffic in the country. I’ve seen that one reason for carpool lanes is to help traffic congestion, but I don’t understand since it seems traffic could be a lot better if we could all use every lane.

Why do we still use carpool lanes? Wouldn’t it drastically help our traffic to open all lanes?

In: 406

Answer 1

Building more lanes does not make traffic better. This is due to induced demand, an effect that has been well-studied and accepted by urban planners since the 1930s, but one that many people are in denial about (or purposefully lie about to sell more cars).

The only solution to car traffic is viable alternatives to driving. LA traffic is so bad because the city is designed almost exclusively for driving and there are no viable alternatives.

With respect to HOV lanes, they are really there to reduce VMT (vehicle miles travelled) which is mostly to reduce pollution, but does get some cars off the road due to carpooling.

The YouTuber City Nerd haut released a good video about HOV lanes: https://youtu.be/3FYeebu0S4c

But fundamentally, there is no solution to car traffic, except viable alternatives to driving. Anybody who tells you otherwise is either ignorant, or is trying to sell you cars.

Answer 2

Building more lanes does not make traffic better. This is due to induced demand, an effect that has been well-studied and accepted by urban planners since the 1930s, but one that many people are in denial about (or purposefully lie about to sell more cars).

The only solution to car traffic is viable alternatives to driving. LA traffic is so bad because the city is designed almost exclusively for driving and there are no viable alternatives.

With respect to HOV lanes, they are really there to reduce VMT (vehicle miles travelled) which is mostly to reduce pollution, but does get some cars off the road due to carpooling.

The YouTuber City Nerd haut released a good video about HOV lanes: https://youtu.be/3FYeebu0S4c

But fundamentally, there is no solution to car traffic, except viable alternatives to driving. Anybody who tells you otherwise is either ignorant, or is trying to sell you cars.