Post articles abt HOT Lanes -contact your reps!

Did anyone else's stomach do a flop at the idea of paying 42 a day to commute?

I don't believe for a second they are going to find some easy, efficient, miracle way to decipher HOV commuter vs. SOV willing-to-pay drivers. I will personally have to move or change jobs if we end up paying to go to work. Yes- PAYING TO GO TO WORK- that is what it boils down too. Why cant the state improve the roadways? Why do we have to bring in some private company with dollar signs in their eyes to "virtually guarantee congestion-free rides for transit at a time when there is little public money to expand roadways".

Lets not even get into the chaos the construction of these uber wonderful HOT lanes and "improvements" will cause. Springfield mixing bowl- anyone? This is just craziness.

Inhale, exhale... Ok, I'm better now.

Slug'n till 2010 (when the HOT lanes roll in)

You have nailed HOOCH!!!!!!!

Most people think it's below them to car pool or use public transportation(PT), where public transportation is available. I've heard several women say where I work at that they don't use PT because:

1. They can get to work faster than using PT.

2. Don't like being around other people because of the bumping or touching(duh, PT, when it's crowded that's what happens, nobody does it intentionally to p!@# you off!!!)

3. They want to be in control of what happens when they drive.

Some people just don't have a clue AND this is what makes me really laugh........they get a monthly subsidy from the government, who wouldn't take advantage of someone else paying their commuter expense!!!!

SHEEESHHH.....IF I CAN JUST FIND SOMEONE TO PAY FOR MY OTHER EXPENSES THEN I WOULD NOT HESITATE ONE BIT TO DO MY PART ON REDUCING TRAFFIC BY JUST RETIRING!!!!![:D]

Thanks for the heads-up Galah, but anyone who has taken METRO or MetroBus from their farthest suburban reaches into the city knows this all too well!

And BTW, my commute from Springfield (only about 15 miles from my office as the crow flies) takes a stuffy 1 to 1-1/2 hours each way on METRO and costs $11.45 per day ($229.00 per month). Terrible, but a veritable speedy bargain compared to the proposed high HOT costs and HOT traffic management screw-up potential! And even worse compared to my slug commute; park my car and ride in for free in about 45 min. - 1 hour. Fewer cars on the road, less fossil fuel consumption, better for my pocketbook, better for the environment, and I get to make new friends everyday.

Is anyone thinking about the negative effects HOT lanes will have on the ecological aspects of the environment here in NOVA? Let's talk about adding thousands of SOV luxo-tanks to the commute each day. The affluent commuter who can afford HOT tolls and ride SOV will also be driving gas-guzzling luxury cars that not only add to the net number of vehicles on the road (by driving SOV and kicking carpool riders out and back into their own vehicles in the regular lanes), but will also increase overall congestion, fuel consumption, and pollution for all to enjoy!

Think of it this way: each SOV HOT commuter adds at least 3 vehicles to the road (the SOV + the former HOV riders) along with all the associated congestion, pollution, fuel consumption and personal expenses. This is similar to the hybrid HOV exemption effect that we are currently seeing. Each SOV on the HOV lanes adds a multiple of 3 additional vehicles to the road, along with all the bad stuff that comes with increased traffic.

Has anyone considered the negative financial impact of HOT lanes? Money spent on tolls is money that I cannot spend on other things that I need in life. Toll revenues collected leave the NOVA area (and the country). They are dollars taken out of local consumer pockets that were formerly spent on local products and services. This consideration evens out the "commuter affluence" factor as ANY discretionary consumer spending ability that is removed from a local economy has a negative affect on area businesses.

Toll roads are bad for NOVA!

I believe that the HOT theory is that by making it SO much more expensive to commute, public transportation will seem like a good deal and people will use the alternatives, after all it's a technique that we use with cigarette's! See how effective it is? (I am being sarcastic). The trouble is we are trying to encourage people to use an alternative form of transportation where and alternative form of transportation does not exist. Face it! Pay your taxes and build the roads!

MDC - I'm not sure you thought that out very well. Are you implying that there is a market for regular lane drivers to form carpools? If that is the case, what is your rationale for why it has not yet occured?