Many Options, No Single Solution to Nation's Traffic Snarls

ABC News ^ | June 27, 2015 | Joan Lowy

[oh8eleven]

That might work, as long as everyone lives the exact same distance from work, and drives the exact same speed, and ...
How so? Rochester NY is home to both Xerox and Kodak and between the two (back in the day), employed well over 75,000 people.
Morning and evening traffic was damned near gridlock, until both companies sat down in the early 80s and came up with staggered start/quit times which improved traffic flow significantly.

[Terry L Smith]

First, stop buying your teenagers a car before they graduate from high school! That will stop the drunk driving and other idiotic things, for a while, and give them a chance to mature a few years, before they run into a telephone pole or something.

Second, if the author is complaining about how the traffic is snarled now ... wait till ‘he’ gets stuck in line at a tollbooth!! Stop, pay a toll, drive at high speed for a few minutes, stop, pay a toll, and do it all over again for the duration of that piece of highway.

Third. You who use ‘truck routes’ will see those to be clogged, if not already, as alternate driving routes become discovered to bypass the tolls, except for the bridges across major rivers, where it will become a mess once more.

Fourth. Your gas mileage will go to that more of ‘city’ average than ‘highway’ which will mean you will pay FOR more gas, at a HIGHER rate, just on the other side of the exiting highway toll gate, if you don’t run out of gas, first.

[WayneS]

Staggered by 5 minutes?

[WayneS]

First, stop buying your teenagers a car before they graduate from high school!

And if they earn the money to buy one on their own?

[Texan5]

The cramming of too many people in too small a space makes traffic a problem-duh! Even the Romans had traffic problems, slums, high crime-all the problems associated with people living like ants or bees. Maybe-just-maybe people aren’t supposed to live in hives like bees-might be better to spread out a bit and have more small shops and businesses instead of big boxes and big companies employing 1000’s in one building...

[WayneS]

...and give them a chance to mature a few years, before they run into a telephone pole or something.

Is it really that important for them to be more mature when they hit a telephone pole?

[oh8eleven]

Staggered by 5 minutes?
The stagger was in 6 minute segments. So instead of everyone reporting in at 8am and leaving at 5pm, the start/stop times were reset to 7:30, 7:36, 7:42, etc ... 4:30, 4:36; 4:42, etc.
Also, the quantity of employees starting or stopping work for each specific time slot was adjusted to help smooth things along.

[wastoute]

Easy solution. If no one is working then no one has to drive to work. We’re halfway there!

[WayneS]

I would not have thought such short increments would save appreciably on traffic jams; especially at very large offices/factories.

But if it worked, it worked.

I’ve often thought that if the federal offices in Washington,DC adopted start/end times staggered by 60 minutes it would help their traffic woes.

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

Future toll roads won’t have toll booths. They will use all-electronic tolling where you’ll speed under a gantry at highway speed and either the reader will recognize your transponder and deduct your toll from a pre-paid account, or a camera will take a picture of your license plate, so that the tolling authority can bill you by mail.

[oh8eleven]

I would not have thought such short increments would save appreciably on traffic jams
I worked for Kodak for 35 years - both before and after implementation of the plan - and believe me it worked.
However, both companies eventually discovered they could ease traffic even more AND save a lot of money by downsizing employees - lots of the them.
Not sure of Xerox's exact numbers but Kodak went from 65,000 in 1985 to less than 5,000 today. Poof - no traffic jams.

[Terry L Smith]

Dear WayneS,

Your academic question, placed in the light of the present national job market, is moot.

The only way that teenagers can earn enough for an automobile, these days, and the funds for the insurance rates, and the maintenance thereof, is with mommy and daddy co-signing a loan, which there has always been a 50/50 possibility of getting stuck with, or the legal fees for Johnny/Jane’s one time idiocy.

I had a part time job after school, was in athletics, earned an ‘A’ in economics, bookkeeping, and two years’ worth of the Russian language, lived in a city, and either rode the city bus to school, or my bicycle.

[Terry L Smith]

Dear WayneS,

The increased maturity will be a factor in improving the odds that they might NOT have that telephone pole jump out in the street.

[WayneS]

I had a part time job after school, was in athletics, earned an ‘A’ in economics, bookkeeping, and two years’ worth of the Russian language, lived in a city, and either rode the city bus to school, or my bicycle.

Good for you. But does that make you qualified to tell other people how to live their lives? YOU didn't need a car, so why would ANYONE need one?

I live in a rural area with no bus service and dangerous roads for riding bicycles. The nearest store (and it's a little one) is about 7 miles away. There are plenty of small farms and businesses that need assistance so work is there for young people if they want to work.

Also, I wasn't talking about a new car, or even one of particularly recent vintage (so your reference to co-signing a loan is "academic" and "moot"). In my opinion, nothing builds character for a teenager like having to diagnose and repair his (or her) old junk-heap vehicle so he can travel where he needs or want to go. And nothing motivates him (or her) to work harder so he can afford a nicer vehicle, either.

I got my first job on a farm at the age of 13. I bought my first "junker" vehicle at 14, and promptly sold it for a profit without ever even driving it. I bought my second vehicle at 15 years of age. With many hours of assistance from Dad, but very little of his money, we fixed it up so that it was ready for me when I got my driver's license at 16. I worked very hard to pay for maintenance, gas and insurance.

I will not deny my son that same type of adventure if he chooses to go that route.

Everyone has different life experiences, and one size does NOT fit all.

[minnesota_bound]

I remember here in Los Angeles when the illegals were trying to throw their weight around they decided to go on strike.
Traffic was very light the days they did not drive and everyone wanted them to to stay off the roads!

[umgud]

I agree with you. Good presentation.

[from occupied ga]

Tank the economy

That would work. AT least half of the country thinks it would anyway. :-(

[from occupied ga]

Everyone has different life experiences, and one size does NOT fit all.

Not what the statists like 0bama and the morons who vote for him think.

[Terry L Smith]

<> I do not deny that axiom. I have watched kids, in the big city, in the small city, in the suburbs, all get spoiled, and gifts showered on them, even after they muck up, for the last 45 years. I have seen a lack of disciple, self-worth, responsibility, honor, and duty to country spread like cancer.