Minister of Transport Miri Regev is softening the restrictions on the bus and carpool lane on Road 1 between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv by allowing drivers with just one passenger, instead of the current two, to use the lane.
According to the Ministry of Transport, the lane, which was opened in December 2022, is used daily by 140 buses and 300 cars (Sunday-Thursday 6.30-9.30 am) but has an hourly capacity of 800-850 vehicles. Therefore Regev wants to add 500 vehicles to increase capacity without reducing speeds.
These calculations are misleading because buses cannot be counted in the same way as cars because they are much longer. It has already been proven that thousands more people pass through the lane than the other two lanes already assigned to cars on the road. The lane should appear "empty" because its planners have also taken into account those who break the law and travel on it in the absence of significant enforcement.
Thus Regev's decision will slow down the speed of the buses for which the lane was designed and in the long term will not ease jams. Each of the 500 extra cars that will now travel on the lane each hour will tempt more cars into the lane, which will become more congested.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on January 31, 2023.
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd., 2023.