Editorial: After next carpool-lane change, studies should continue

Caltrans has lived up to its promise to reduce the “High Occupancy Vehicle” lane hours on the Marin-Sonoma stretch of Highway 101 after its short-lived longer morning and afternoon hours brought loud complaints from commuters.

Caltrans’ argument was that hours for HOV or carpool and bus lanes should be consistent around the Bay Area.

Having more uniformed hours is less confusing for motorists, officials said.

The problem was that Caltrans’ hours, reserving the lanes – in both directions – were doubled to nine hours on weekdays.

Motorists who rely on 101 complained that the new hours created more congestion than the old hours, which have been in place along the Marin segment for several decades.

The latest hours – 6 to 9 a.m. and 3 to 6:30 p.m. – are still a change, not only reserving the lanes for buses and carpools two hours longer, but having those restrictions in place in both directions.

Caltrans should be prepared to evaluate that scheme. Take a look at it over the next six months and change it again if it’s worsening congestion.

That should include whether the morning and evening hours need to be in effect for both southbound and northbound traffic.

One of the biggest complaints was that the hours Caltrans had put into place in the fall had changed commute-hour chokepoints, creating congestion where it hadn’t been a problem before. That included so-called counter-commute traffic.

In endorsing those hours, local officials had expressed reservations and got a promise from Caltrans that it would evaluate their effectiveness and roll them back if needed.

It didn’t take long for commuters to howl. The Transportation Authority of Marin and the Sonoma County Transportation and Climate Authorities co-authored a letter calling on Caltrans to shorten the hours.

Caltrans wanted time to see if traffic patterns would adjust to the longer hours.

They did. Congestion got worse.

Real-time, real-life experience showed that longer hours caused more congestion than it converted motorists to form carpools or commute by bus.

Caltrans deserves credit for taking action that was prompt for a state bureaucracy that’s not known for quick decisions.

Marin Supervisor Eric Lucan, a Novato resident who commutes to work on 101 and saw the bumper-to-bumper grind worsen, has called the revised hours “a good outcome.”

He’s right, the extension of the HOV lane and changing the hours, are not going to “completely relieve congestion.”

They only do that by compelling commuters to form carpools, take the bus or ride the train.

For most of the motorists, that is not a workable option.

The old hours weren’t helping transit much either. The new hours will test whether changing it to 9 a.m. makes a difference for buses.

Another hope to address that problem is a proposal to create a separated bus lane along 101’s shoulder between Novato and San Rafael. That idea is being studied by Caltrans and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, the Bay Area’s regional transportation agency.

Caltrans and MTC are also working together to increase the number of metered onramps through Marin.

Those efforts need to be approached in a way that avoids worsening congestion on local streets. In some cases, the freeway onramps are short and the meters can back up traffic on city streets.

For now, the reduction of the hours from those that had been posted in fall is a welcomed change.

Hopefully, they will address the complaints that were heard loud and clear after Caltrans extended the hours. Reservations voiced by Marin and Sonoma officials proved true.

The hours are not being reduced all the way back to those that had been in place in Marin for years. Before Caltrans changed them, they also hadn’t been in effect during the morning’s northbound traffic and southbound traffic in the afternoon.

Caltrans needs to monitor that change as well as the new times. Again, if they are making traffic worse rather than better, more changes should be considered.