Pool plan aims to beat the jams

A scheme to entice strangers to meet at a suburban carpark, hitch a ride in a full car and get special parking privileges in the city could be running in Auckland by 2008.

The scheme, designed by private company Trip Convergence Ltd, is backed by Auckland City Council's transport chairman Richard Simpson, who is keen to see it operating by the end of next year.

Mr Simpson said council could provide suburban and urban meeting points for commuters.

Named HOVER (High Occupancy Vehicles in Express lanes), the system sees members use trip credits like a bus fare between riders and drivers. Members would be vetted before joining to ensure safety, and records kept of who travels in each car. Regular misbehavers could be stripped of their membership.

Trip Convergence estimates members would save an average $1400 a year in petrol and parking costs. It hopes to gain access to high-occupancy vehicle or express lanes for members but says this is not essential for the system to work.

Mr Simpson believes schemes like this will help ease Auckland's congestion. "We are very interested. The council could invest in suburban and urban hubs that provide the facility for safe parking and drop off," he said. "While we are always careful of spending ratepayers' money, the money required for this would be a drop in the ocean compared with the cost of new roads."

He said pressure on bus lanes and limited land space meant HOVER would be unable to use express lanes in Auckland, although other cities in the region already allowed full cars to travel in designated high-occupancy vehicle lanes.

But Mr Simpson said incentives such as cheap car parking for carpoolers could be done by allocating a floor in the council's own carparks. He believed promoting ideas like carpooling was necessary as Auckland had one of the highest car ownership levels in the world - 1.7 per household, compared with 1.4 in Los Angeles.

Yet Mr Simpson admitted the love Aucklanders had for their cars might make the switch to carpooling difficult. But increasing congestion and rising fuel costs would persuade some of its benefits, he said.

"We just can't keep putting more and more cars on our roads but that will happen unless it is managed correctly because cars are cheap," said Mr Simpson. "When I drive on the motorway, all I can see are single-occupant vehicles and that's not good for the future."

Auckland Regional Transport Authority sustainable transport manager Anna Percy said professional advice, including project modelling and sharing relevant research, had been given to the carpooling plan. Ms Percy said ARTA might also help finance a trial which would show how the project worked, who the most likely users were and its main advantages.

While ARTA had been more involved in assisting businesses rather than individual motorists with carpooling in the past, it was interested in this new concept, she said.

Her organisation's main concern was that this plan did not harm any public transport initiatives underway.

"But anything that's good for transport in Auckland is good for us all, so it is important we make sure the idea gets a fair hearing."

But Automobile Association spokesman Greg Hunting doubts Aucklanders will switch to carpooling. Mr Hunting said Auckland added 20-plus new cars each week and, while carpooling might ease problems, the growth of vehicles on the roads would outstrip new initiatives.

"Fiddling around the edges will not fix Auckland's problems. That's why our call continues to be to complete the roading network."

But carpooler Alan Green, who shares a car to work with three of his Vodafone colleagues, said using Onewa Rd's high-occupancy vehicle lane saved them 25 minutes' travel time daily.

"It's cheaper and faster," he said.

- HERALD ON SUNDAY