During rush hour we are all in a hurry to get where we're going. Some of us would be willing to pay a fair amount to shave 20 minutes, or so, off of our commute time. The Traffic Pay2Pass is an automated traffic payment scheme which takes toll roads one step further. It introduces free market economics into the commuter traffic quagmire.

Let's say a commuter travels the 405 freeway in LA each day from Century City down to Irivine--a killer commute anytime before 7:00pm. One lane of the 405 could be devoted to the Traffic Pay2Pass system. The subscribing commuter pays a variable fee, say $3 to $25 per day, to travel the Pay2Pass lane. Lower paying Pay2Pass subscribers would have to get out of the way of faster moving higher paying subscribers, or else pay a penalty.

If a higher paying Pay2Pass commuter ($10 per day) comes up behind a lower paying driver ($3 per day), the lower paying driver would have to move over and let the higher paying person pass. If the lower paying Pay2Pass subscriber did not move over to allow the faster commuter, they be charged a small penalty fee into the system, $.50 (e.g., the system has their credit card number). The amount of the penalty could be governed by the differential in monthly fees. A $3/day driver who declined to allow a $25/day driver to pass may have to pay $2.

The detection/comm part of the system is implemented with RFID, Bluetooth, or one of the 802.11 variants, and traffic cams to sense freeriders. The system could be implemented by state or local governments to raise road funds.

Pay2Pass would make commuter lanes more efficient by clearing the way, to some extent, for people will to pay to avoid traffic--a significant priority in my life.
-- booleanfool, Apr 04 2004

House says yes to HOV pay plan (Georgia) http://www.ajc.com/...0304/26leglane.html
Mar 25 2004: "Under a bill passed Thursday in the House, Georgia would be poised to join a handful of other states, such as California and Texas, where car-pool lanes double as rush-hour toll lanes." [krelnik, Oct 04 2004]

A form of this is already baked and baking in several US states. (Not including your graduated fee system, though). See link.
-- krelnik, Apr 04 2004


Too complicated to enforce, too many rules changes needed, too much opposition ...

Much better: actually ticket the slow pokes driving in the fast lanes ... This is already written into traffic codes in California and Colorado, but alas, no significant enforcement. ... Hey, faster drivers already pay a disproportionate cost of using the highways: higher fuel costs = higher tax revenue.
-- fasteddy, Apr 04 2004


Much changing of lanes causes traffic generally to slow down.

First thing I'd do is change the speed limit on roads to something half-decent .. like 100mph!

I love it when on 'Crazy car chases 3' they say

'The crazy motorist was now doing almost 70mph'.

What? 70? Thats nothing! Oh yea -- They're all stick stuck on '55 stay alive'! Nightmare!
-- britboy, Apr 05 2004


Going somewhat off topic, i would love to have them do a comentary on my drive from stoke to tamworth, would be full of speeds almost touching 100.

as to anti congestion systems anyone in the UK look at what has happened where the M6 Toll joins the M42 nice new traffic jam.
-- engineer1, Apr 05 2004


If the slow guy in front paid $3, and the fast guy behind paid $25, I think the slow guy should be penalized the full $23 for refusing to get out of the way. 22 to match and one to raise, which would justify him staying in front. Maybe even more. If the fine for refusing to let a higher-paying driver pass is insignificant, nobody would pay any more than the bare minimum.
-- cocktaillouie, Apr 05 2004



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