No it is not scary like HIV but I suppose depending on who you ask it may be. See HOV or High Occupancy Vehicle was a term coined to describe a transportation appliance that contained at least one additional person than the driver during the course of said transport activity.
The local and regional governments decided to dedicate lane or two on the congested highways for such vehicles with hope that it would reduce vehicle density on the roadways allowing for reduced infrastructure spend (in terms of building more lanes). It also let the folks sharing their vehicle get somewhere faster than those stuck in the other lanes.
Now an idea with good intent can go south fast. As in there are way too many people using the idea to go fast in the HOV making for a very tedious crawl unlike the advertised experience. Then there are as one would expect the cheats. As in single occupant vehicles hiding between legit vehicles.
So now we got a cluster - a bad one. The rate of movement approaching equilibrium in all lanes. So the government gets creative. They begin congestion pricing. Hey if we cannot catch the cheats (who might if caught pay hefty fines but it means more cops with high salaries watching traffic) let us incentivize them by charging a few bucks to use the lane. Go single - go fast - spare a few bucks!
Now the HOV is royally jacked. There are those who value time above crowds or carpoolers in their car and would rather pay. So the HOV becomes a money machine and yet no new lanes are added. Go figure.
There are multiple situations like this where a privilege or exclusivity of sorts turns into a mass commodity removing barriers like it was a communist idea. Traveling in first class is no longer a first class experience. Enter the flying clubs. Such a joke. Airlines figured they could try to use their unsold inventory in the expensive class (four times economy price for peanuts on a plate instead of aluminum bag) by letting the corporate fliers earn their way into the elitist club of flyers because they flew a lot and the airline rewarded with a 'wink wink' superior experience. A lot of business class public benefited. Then came other money making tricks. You could buy your way into that class through a credit card program or be part of some other random coalition of merchants and get an expensive metal status. Presto - red carpet here we come. Now when a gate agent announces the 'privileged class to queue up to the aircraft' almost the entire crowd gets up and rushes to be 'first'. What?
The local and regional governments decided to dedicate lane or two on the congested highways for such vehicles with hope that it would reduce vehicle density on the roadways allowing for reduced infrastructure spend (in terms of building more lanes). It also let the folks sharing their vehicle get somewhere faster than those stuck in the other lanes.
Now an idea with good intent can go south fast. As in there are way too many people using the idea to go fast in the HOV making for a very tedious crawl unlike the advertised experience. Then there are as one would expect the cheats. As in single occupant vehicles hiding between legit vehicles.
So now we got a cluster - a bad one. The rate of movement approaching equilibrium in all lanes. So the government gets creative. They begin congestion pricing. Hey if we cannot catch the cheats (who might if caught pay hefty fines but it means more cops with high salaries watching traffic) let us incentivize them by charging a few bucks to use the lane. Go single - go fast - spare a few bucks!
Now the HOV is royally jacked. There are those who value time above crowds or carpoolers in their car and would rather pay. So the HOV becomes a money machine and yet no new lanes are added. Go figure.
There are multiple situations like this where a privilege or exclusivity of sorts turns into a mass commodity removing barriers like it was a communist idea. Traveling in first class is no longer a first class experience. Enter the flying clubs. Such a joke. Airlines figured they could try to use their unsold inventory in the expensive class (four times economy price for peanuts on a plate instead of aluminum bag) by letting the corporate fliers earn their way into the elitist club of flyers because they flew a lot and the airline rewarded with a 'wink wink' superior experience. A lot of business class public benefited. Then came other money making tricks. You could buy your way into that class through a credit card program or be part of some other random coalition of merchants and get an expensive metal status. Presto - red carpet here we come. Now when a gate agent announces the 'privileged class to queue up to the aircraft' almost the entire crowd gets up and rushes to be 'first'. What?
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