Car pools can ease traffic jams

Press, Volume CXVI, Issue 34151, 12 May 1976, Page 25

Car pools can ease traffic jams

When traffic conges-1 lion in the rush hour l eached lhe proportions it had in the cities in the United States a few j years ago. New Zealand commuters would he looking for a solution, and the answer could be car pools, said Mr J. G. Russell managing director. Securitibank. Ltd. Mr Russell was speaking to! a lunch-time meeting of the Rotary Club of Riccarton, most of whose members had arrived at the ratio of one man to a car. New Zealand spent about; s4oom a year on petroleum

products, said Mr Russell, and if cars were more effectively filled with passengers, considerable savings could be made. There were also other benefits like the conservation of energy resources, reduction of pollution, and savings on wages through less lost time. In the United States, companies and local authorities had been quick to appreciate the advantages, and in some places car pools had become bus pools to make further savings as a result of the popularity of the idea. “Many large firms gave financial incentives to car pool users, in the form of cash redeemable tokens to drivers entering parking lots with three or more passen-

Igers, or free private use by> jthe driver of a company car used for pooling,” said Mr; •Russell. ■I One large firm had bought! J vans for 12 passengers, and , I the fares, which gave the; d employee a door-to-door i .’service both ways, were! (structured to pay off the purlchase price of the vehicle. I Other companies were fusing mini-buses, and one of ’jthem had over 100 vehicles. ’ The employee found he could ; be driven to work for ’|$US2BO a year against driving his own car for SUSI6OO dThe driver of the mini-bus •(went to work free and had : jthe vehicle for private use in II the evenings and at the ;(week-ends, said Mr Russell. •I Administrative costs were

more than offset by the savings in a scheme like this — a saving of SUSIm for 100 eight-passenger buses, and sUSlim for 100 12-passenger buses. The workers themselves were keen on the scheme and 80 per cent said it was the best way of getting to work, and 98 per cent said it would be their permanent method, Mr Russell said. The United States Department of Transportation was increasingly interested in these systems and in 1974 Federal aid for car pooling in 81 urban areas was SUSBm. Direct incentives would be necessary if New Zealanders were to become interested in car pools, and Mr Russell suggested priorities for the largest pools in parking buildings, factory parks and adjacent streets, and free tolls for pool cars, and penalty toils for single occupant cars. There could also be priority road lanes in certain places. The organisation of a pooling scheme was most important, said Mr Russell. The central agency could be a firm or a public body, but there had to be a way of catering for people when they changed their job or their address. At its simplest it would be a plotting system, at its most complex, it would be a computer operation.

Mr Russell said, “With the ever increasing costs of running a car, organised car pool services will eventually become acceptable to the commuter in New Zealand. Many are operating in a small way already. In view of the large numbers of company cars used by executives, there is a readymade base to commence pooling operations in many companies. “Every business organisation could benefit from a study of the car pool system. Reduced costs of travel to employees will relieve the pressure on employees for higher wages to pay such costs.”