I'm helping the North Florida TPO with their Commuter Services program and am looking for carpoolers to possibly do some focus groups. Any interest?
Quote from: mvp on September 17, 2009, 02:38:53 PM
I'm helping the North Florida TPO with their Commuter Services program and am looking for carpoolers to possibly do some focus groups. Any interest?
Well, I don't carpool here, but used to when I lived in CA. Carpooled with someone from Northridge to Pasadena (aprox. 1 hour)
Did you use HOV lanes?
Quote from: mvp on September 17, 2009, 06:34:14 PM
Did you use HOV lanes?
Yes, that was the primary reason we car-pooled,....... saved us a bunch of time. Remember gas prices weren't much of an issue at a steady 95 cent per gallon. This was back in the 80s.
I used to carpool when I lived in WI. I don't here and the primary reason is because of the lack of park and rides. We had a safe and free place to park our cars during the day. Park and rides were located right along the interstate system at junctions with other multi-lane roads leading in and out of the city.
mvp, you should push for HOV lanes on 95, 10 and 295. Add park and rides and all of a sudden, it might just be time and money saving to carpool. Right now, this city is severely lacking.
HOV lanes were a significant factor on decisions to carpool in Atlanta. However, I will add that I would have like a rail option more than carpooling, but ATL's system did not have sufficient inside the Perimeter stops to make that possible from many in-town neighborhoods. Park n' Ride was only time efficient for the airport or outside of Perimeter suburbs.
In DC, most everyone chose the train because many could login to their office via Blackberry and start the workday during their commute.
HOV lane would be kinda hard to put into place in Jacksonville! End up using some of the interstate and don't think the Fed's would like that at all! Building more roads are the answer..........rail would be!
HOV lanes make a huge difference. So does $4/gal gas. At some point in the future we might see HOV as part of "managed lanes" on I-95. JTA has some park-n-ride lots and I suspect a few carpoolers use shopping center lots. I remember when people used to gather in a dirt lot at JTB and Third St. to carpool. I don't think carpools would ever be considered as an option to rail, but it would be a good complement though - carpool to the commuter rail park-n-ride lot!
People have their own personal saving time/money/hassle calculation when it comes to commuting. Another factor in deciding whether to carpool is trip chaining - dropping off kids or combining other errands with your commute.
The great thing about carpooling is that it doesn't require a series of studies or millions of dollars to build something. People can do it on their own, right now. It's just tough to nail down "likely suspects" and reach out to those people to facilitate the process. Any suggestions?
I carpool. I drive from Riverside to San Marco. From there we take turns driving to the office parks off Belfort Rd.
This is just not a carpool town. People aren't just going to carpool without a whole lot of effort being put forth on someone's behalf.
More Park and Ride lots might help but I think your right........it is a mentality thing!