MODEST PROPOSAL : Time to Try Pay-to-Drive

The Air Quality Management Board will hold hearings April 14 on a proposal to amend Rule 1501, which requires large companies to provide rideshare programs. Under one amendment, a company could opt out by purchasing employees’ high-pollution vehicles and having them destroyed. WARD ELLIOTT is a Coalition for Clean Air board member who was president of the coalition when Rule 1501 was enacted in 1987. He said:

Rule 1501 (the car-pooling regulation) is aimed at a huge problem we cannot ignore--tons of smog generated during morning peak-hour traffic. It is not the most efficient way of addressing the problem but it is better than nothing. The program has raised car-pool ridership by about 13% at companies affected by the regulation. However, the regulation applies only to companies with large work forces--and that accounts for less than a quarter of peak morning traffic.

The rideshare regulation fits some companies better than others. It is not unreasonable for the AQMD to let the “worst fits” buy out of the program. For example, a large company with employees who work primarily at night is not creating smog during peak traffic hours. But without a better alternative, repealing the regulation makes no sense and is not permitted under the Clean Air Act.

A better alternative is only recently politically thinkable in this country. It’s called the “congestion charge.” For example, in Singapore, motorists have to pay to commute downtown during peak traffic hours.

We should also be providing options that would enable motorists to commute more quickly by charging for access to diamond lanes during peak hours. Diamond lanes would still be free to ride-sharers, but solo drivers could buy under-used lane space. This would pay for more diamond lanes, cut congestion and save millions of dollars in smog and delay costs. Singapore cut peak-hour auto traffic in its central business district by 40% with congestion charges. The first U.S. project should open on two new lanes of the Riverside Freeway this year. If we are lucky, the second project won’t take so long.