SPEEDY CAR-POOL SUCCESS ON 405.

Byline: Lisa Mascaro Staff Writer

Car-pool lanes on the San Diego Freeway through the San Fernando Valley have shortened commute times by more than 30 minutes, but the region's four other HOV lanes have shaved little time off daily drives, a report released Friday said.

The high-occupancy vehicle lanes on the 134 and 170 freeways are too short to alleviate rush-hour congestion, according to the report from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Car-pool lanes on the Antelope Valley Freeway are so popular, they become congested, offsetting any gains. And on the Ronald Reagan Freeway, cars in the regular lanes go so fast that not much time is saved by using the car-pool lanes.

``They're saving time over the mixed-flow lane, but the total time savings for the motorist is not huge,'' said Carol Inge, the MTA's deputy executive officer for planning.

``I don't know if I'd call it poor performing. In fact, it probably shows you need more car-pool (lanes). One of our guiding principals is that we should continue to invest in the freeway-to-freeway connectors, as well as completing the gaps in the car-pool system.''

The report is part of a long-awaited $2.7 million study compiled after the MTA board directed staffers two years ago to investigate the efficiency of spending millions of dollars on car-pool lanes.

With freeway traffic expected to slow to 14.7 mph by 2025 if no roadway improvements were made, investing in freeway infrastructure becomes a critical issue, according to the MTA long-range plan.

Countywide, the survey found, 10 of the region's 16 car-pool lanes are inching toward capacity, carrying so many vehicles during rush hours that they're on the way to offering no reward over riding solo.

The high use of some lanes could lead to other policy implications, the report said, such as whether to increase the minimum number of car-pool riders needed to use the lanes or adding more bus routes to car-pool lanes.

The MTA was pleased with the report's findings, which it said showed the car-pool system is on the right track.

``If you look at the data from the county overall, you see that on a whole the car-pool system is doing very well,'' Inge said.

But with 82 percent of those surveyed who use car-pool lanes saying they buddy up for the time savings, knocking down commute minutes is key.

The car-pool lanes on the San Diego Freeway, between the Ventura and the Golden State freeways, emerged as stars of the Valley system, cutting 30-plus minutes off the morning and evening commutes over those going it alone.

The report did not include time savings on the new San Diego Freewaycar-pool lanes south of the Ventura Freeway into the Westside, which initial reports have said shaved 18 minutes off rush-hour commutes.

But the rest of the Valley system has left less encouragement to carpool.

Car-pool users on the 134 Freeway, from the 101/170 interchange to the Foothill Freeway, saved just a few minutes. Those on the Hollywood Freeway from the 134 to the Golden State Freeway saved just over five minutes. Precise numbers for the minutes saved were not immediately available from the MTA.

Those lanes - along with those on the Ronald Reagan Freeway - were also some of the least used, with capacity hovering around 800 vehicles per hour - the cutoff for a lane that's worth building, the MTA said. In fact, the 170 Freeway car-pool lane was the only one countywide not hitting the 800 mark.

By comparison, 10 other lanes were carrying 1,200 to 1,600 per hour - at 1,650, the lane is considered at capacity.

The Antelope Valley Freeway - between the interchange with the Golden State Freeway and Escondido Canyon - gave commuters one of the lowest time savings in Los Angeles County's car-pool system.

The problem on the Antelope Valley Freeway - where capacity is high, running more than 1,200 vehicles per hour - is that the lane ends and car-pool drivers have to merge back into regular lanes to make the connection ramps to the Golden State Freeway.

``As the vehicles approach the 5-14, you have all these cars trying to weave over to traffic,'' said the MTA's Ray Miekawa. ``All the time savings that the car poolers had were washed out.''

Building a ramp for those car poolers is part of a vast $200 million car-pool lane project under way on the Golden State Freeway.

University of Southern California planning professor Genevieve Giuliano said commuters need at least 15 minutes of savings to make a car pool worthwhile - figuring that's about the time it takes to drop off or pick up a fellow rider.

``So it's no surprise that small segments of car-pool lanes don't change anyone's behavior,'' she said.

Car-pool lane dollars are best spent on areas that would draw long-range commuters, she said.

``The 405 is a natural. By adding a car-pool lane, you add capacity. Everyone's travel commute is improved,'' she said about the new southbound 405 lane that opened to much success earlier this year. ``But in most places, no, a few miles does not translate into enough savings to change someone's decision about how they travel.''

Among other findings in the report:

--Cheaters are few. Violators represent no more than 3 percent of all car-pool users - with highest portion being found on the eastbound 134. The violation rate is one of the lowest in the nation, thanks in part to the $271 fine, the report said.

--The Antelope Valley Freeway carries 1,100 bus riders each day in the car-pool lanes, an option the MTA says will become more attractive as the Antelope Valley continues to grow and conditions on the freeway ``deteriorate.''

``As the communities in the Antelope Valley grow, and traffic conditions on the SR-14 Freeway deteriorate, transit in this corridor will become an increasingly attractive commute choice,'' the report said.

--No toll lanes. The report found that there's not enough unused capacity in existing car-pool lanes to consider opening them up for a fee to solo drivers, as is being done in a project in San Diego County.

``As we complete more of our system, gap closures, you're going to see more, if not all, of the car-pool lanes approaching that capacity,'' Inge said. ``It's probably not so easy to back away from that. Here our problem is probably too many vehicles wanting to use the car-pool lane. So we'd want to proceed with great caution.''

--Countywide, 88 percent of those surveyed support having car-pool lanes, including 70 percent of freeway motorists who do not use them.

The report will be presented next week to the MTA's planning committee before being sent on to the full MTA board of directors for review.

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SOURCE: LADOT 

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