Car-pools are in for a revival and receiving a greater push by Lyft founders John Zimmer and Logan Green to truly make a bold impact on heavy traffic congested roads.
Lyft founders John Zimmer and Logan Green have proposed a plan that will see the government impose tolls on highways and streets during times of increased traffic to cut congestion.
Although the scheme might seem obvious, commuters benefit if they travel in a car with three or more passengers, because then everyone rides for free. The aim is to push people into car-pool sharing ‘smart lanes’ to reduce traffic, cut costs and help the environment.
Dubbed the Lyft Line, the scheme is set to grow exponentially and developers claim it’s easy to find others going in the same direction as you.
A recent MIT study found that services like Lyft and other car-pool sharing services significantly reduces traffic, leading experts to believe that this is the way forward.
The cost of rush-hour traffic (price of gas, congestion charges, time wasted in traffic jams, health) throws up many incentives for sharing a ride with other people. The only drawback to the scheme Is whether you mind sharing a car with people you don’t know, however it’s what many of us do nearly every day when traveling on a train or bus.
Lyft claim that if their Lyft Line service were to be applied to all single occupancy taxi trips in New York City, “it would reduce the number of vehicles needed by 75 percent.”
The founders are now pushing their bold idea to lawmakers and are calling for collective action and policy to implement the plan nationwide.
What’s more, the ever-growing self-driving technology fits in well with these plans. Tracking and charging drivers and autonomous cars will become even easier via remote cloud networks, which will help in managing, monitoring and for gaining funding for road and transport projects.
So, as the Trump presidency takes over it’s important for ride-sharing companies like Lyft to engage in policy discussions with the new administration, forge partnerships with local governments and transport agencies and to fight for the scheme to be made legal across the United States
It is bold ideas like this that will revolutionize travel on our roads and create a better environment for future generations.
