Why Not Use Mexico City’s Plan of Car-Pool Incentives?

Re “Idea for Freeway Jams” (May 9):

I understand that Mexico City, which was very smoggy even in the early ‘70s, has greatly reduced its traffic and pollution problem by adopting a sticker system.

In that city’s novel approach, each car is issued a coded color sticker that prohibits the car from being driven on a certain day of the week. This not only reduces the number of cars on the street, but forces people to car-pool with their neighbors. Thus, instead of having to spend even more money to set up a huge bureaucracy to coordinate car-pooling, people can take responsibility to find partners who are more compatible.

For those hardship cases, special stickers could be issued at a fee that would be sufficiently high to discourage abuses. In the case of the less-affluent sole wage-earner who must drive on weekdays, perhaps a sticker that prohibits driving on either Saturday or Sunday may be provided.

I see a lot of pluses to this idea. By forcing people to locate their own car-pooling partners, one may get to know one’s neighbors better. This in turn may help to reduce crime. Without incurring huge expenses, it immediately reduces traffic nearly 15% and consequently improves our air quality as well. The fees collected from the special stickers could be used to improve our transportation system.

I believe David Briner’s idea of having reverse-direction lanes is excellent, but our traffic future still hinges on a good rapid-transit system.

JOHN T. CHIU

Corona del Mar