Passengers hold the key

Busy motorways may keep clear lanes for cars carrying passengers Don’t lose sight of the car pool lane. That was the message from Alistair Darling to the Highways Agency back in March. Darling had some tricky balls to keep in the air as transport secretary in the run-up to the last election, as he grappled with the conundrums of road traffic congestion. Despite the dim view of local zone charging expressed by the voters of Edinburgh, nationwide road pricing looks a likely runner in the longer term. As for the road lobby’s incessant pressure for the building of yet more roads, there are some new stretches of toll motorway on the menu for starters. Meanwhile, on a more innovative note, drivers sitting in their cars alone could find themselves watching enviously as those with passengers pass them by in a special lane. The first possible locations, now under scrutiny, are on the jam-packed urban motorways around London (the M25 between junctions 12 and 15), Manchester (the M61) and Leeds (the M62). “Car pool lanes have an important role to play in making best use of road space,” said Darling, “as well as helping the environment and reducing congestion. They work in the US and there is no reason they can’t work here.” But there’ll be more consultation, followed by detailed investigation and design work, before any action is taken. “This is great news,” says Ali Clabburn, founder of liftshare.com - the UK’s largest car sharing scheme. “We’ve been encouraging the government to look at how our roads could be used more efficiently and it looks like the message has finally got through. Car sharing provides a simple way of reducing congestion and pollution, and is free to organise through our system at liftshare.com. Dedicated car sharing lanes are the most effective way of promoting car sharing, and we encourage the introduction of more lanes across the UK.” - Roger East

18 June 2005

Roger East