Push to allow motorcycles in HOV lanes

[unimaginative2]

Push to allow motorcycles in high-occupancy lanes

JEFF GRAY

The Globe and Mail
November 29, 2007

Motorcyclists and scooter riders should be allowed to use the city's high-occupancy vehicle lanes, the city's works committee recommended yesterday.

The lanes on city roads are now reserved for buses, bikes, taxis and cars with three occupants,. Councillor Case Ootes has been pushing the city to allow motorcycles and scooters with just one occupant as well, to help with traffic congestion and pollution.

City staff had concluded that many motorcycles were not much more fuel efficient than cars, although that was disputed yesterday by the heads of various motorcycling and scooter organizations who addressed the committee.

The recommendation goes to city council next month.

 

[ITcomputer]

why is this not a no brainer??

oh right..city council

 

[ShonTron]

It's not a no brainer. What next? Allow hybrid cars to use HOV lanes?

First, try some enforcement.

 

[doady]

Yeah, and a scooter isn't exactly a "high-occupancy vehicle."

 

[MetroMan]

It is in proportion to its size. One scooter occupant, takes up well over 60 to 80 percent of the surface of a scooter vis a vis the scooter's road surface occupancy.

Ok... did anybody get that? No? Time for bed.

 

[doady]

It is in proportion to its size. One scooter occupant, takes up well over 60 to 80 percent of the surface of a scooter vis a vis the scooter's road surface occupancy.

Ok... did anybody get that? No? Time for bed.

If it doesn't have to be "high-occupancy," then maybe it doesn't have to be a "vehicle" either. Maybe they should let skateboarders use the lanes too then. Or rollerbladers. We can keep going...

 

[rpgr]

Actually the logical extension would be bicyclers but....

Motorcycles I can see, they have the acceleration and power to keep up but scooters? How fast do these things go? I thought a top notch one was 60KM/H... Oh yeah right, the government and police still believe people actually drive at the speed limit further more on a road like Don Mills, could a scooter even climb those hills?

OK maybe I'm being hard on scooters because I am 90% ignorant on them and I admit that. Any takers to those concerns?

 

[ITcomputer]

Most scooters can do the speed limit or more on city streets.

If they allow ebikes that may be a problem as they can only go 32km/h

 

[MetroMan]

I used to have a scooter. A crappy one actually... and it did 100km p/hr.

 

[doady]

Even if one person using a scooter is efficient, a scooter would not make efficient use of a HOV lane, which is much wider than a scooter is.

 

[TKTKTK]

Motorcycles and Scooters should be able to use the HOV lanes, but not bicycle lanes (as both are prone to do these days). The city also (separately) needs to get serious about cleaning up the emissions of legacy scooters and motorcycles (as well as sound limits on the latter).

 

[Transitist]

"It is in proportion to its size"

Out of all the (lame) arguments to allow motorcycles/scooters in HOV lanes, this is perhaps the dumbest. This is like saying that two seat sports cars should be allowed to use the HOV lane because they are using 50% of their capacity.

Also, with respect to the environmental benefits, motorcycles have no emission standards, and so the stuff that comes out of their tailpape is worse than what even SUVs put out (by a long shot). Rewarding motorcycle use won't help to reduce the number of smog days in Toronto. Re: fuel economy, some of the heavier motorcycles get worse fuel mileage than some compacts. There is a huge range of fuel economy ratings among motorcycles.

Allowing motorcycles on HOV lanes is opening up a can of worms that will lead to them being even more irrelevant then they already are (at least on city streets).

We're supposed to believe that Case Ootes, a man who petitioned to have bike lanes removed from a street in his ward because they were causing hassles for drivers, suddenly wants to do a solid for the environment?? I guarantee Ootes is backing this proposal because he got pressure from various motorcycle/scooter interest groups.

I can say this with confidence having worked at the Ministry of Transportation, and having been on the receiving end of their lobbying efforts. When they realized the Province wouldn't budge on letting motorcycles use the new highway HOV lanes, they decided to find a weak link on local council to be their stooge.

 

[Hydrogen]

It's not a no brainer. What next? Allow hybrid cars to use HOV lanes?

First, try some enforcement.

I agree. An ever increasing number of exceptions will eventually undermine the purpose of HOV lanes - which is high occupancy.

 

[Tranplanner]

I guarantee Ootes is backing this proposal because he got pressure from various motorcycle/scooter interest groups.

The story goes that his son is an avid motorcyclist...this is the same Councillor who led the (successful) charge to let motorcycles parking for free at metered parking spaces...

 

[ShonTron]

Those are some great points, Transitist. Welcome to the forum!