Calgary HOV lanes catch some drivers 'completely unaware,' but many more planned

Be honest. Have you noticed thesesigns on Centre Street?Or the similar ones along Ninth Avenue S.E.in Inglewood?

They indicatehigh-occupancy vehicle (HOV)lanes, which are restricted to certain types of trafficat particular times of day.

And while they are commonplace on busy routesin Canada's biggest cities, many Calgary drivers "are still getting used to them," according to Coun. Druh Farrell.

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"They're fairly new to Calgary, so they're not well established," said Farrell, whose Ward 7 includes the Centre Street HOV lane, also known as a carpool lane.

That was the first one to be established in the city,and it remains the only "true" carpool lane,as your vehicle must be carrying at least two people in order to legally use it during rush hour.

Busesand cyclistsare also allowed, but all other traffic is prohibited between 7 a.m. and 8:30 a.m. in the southbound curb lane and between 3:30 p.m. and 6 p.m. in the northbound curb lane on weekdays.

Some drivers 'completely unaware'

There are also rush-hour HOV lanes in Inglewood, but those arerestricted to buses and bikes only no regular cars or trucks, regardless of how many passengers they're carrying.

Manydrivers seem "completelyunaware" of the rules, however, according to Coun. Gian-Carlo Carra.

The Ward 9 councillor rides his bike regularlyalong Ninth Avenue S.E. and saidthewidespread disregard for the HOV lanes during rush hour means cyclistswho use themdo so "at their peril."

"It's a really aggravating facility from a cyclist's perspective but apparently it works well enough for transit," Carra said.

Farrell said the Centre Street lanes are not a popular choice for two-wheeled transport, either.

"Very few cyclistsuse it," she said. "Having to interact with vehicles and buses, it's only the very brave."

Hundreds ticketed last year

A total of 1,845 tickets were issued to drivers last year for failing to respect HOV lanes, according to Calgary police.

Those mainly include drivers who stopped or parked in the lanes and those who used the lanes with the wrong type of vehicle.

Some tickets were also issued for failing to exit an HOV lane, as you are allowed to use them to turn on and off an HOV route but are expected to change lanes within a block (or a reasonable distance, depending on traffic flow.)

Entire HOV network planned, eventually

And while the existing HOV lanes remain a work in progress, Calgary has long-term plans to add more many more and eventually create an entirenetwork across the city.

The council-approved Calgary Transportation Plan which looks decades into the futurecalls for a grid of HOV lanes along major routes such as 16th Avenue North, 52nd Street East, Glenmore Trail, Shaganappi Trail, Anderson Road S.W. and John Laurie Boulevard N.W.

Some could be part-time HOV lanes, others could befull-time and dedicated exclusively to Calgary Transit vehicles, like the existing lanes along Crowchild Trail.

The city counts those as HOV lanes even though they function effectively as bus-only lanes and never allow for other types of traffic.

Those plans arenot necessarily set in stone, however, and may change on a case-by-case basis, saidStephen Kay, a senior transportation engineer with the city.

For example, he said the planned widening of Shagannapi Trail includes HOV lanes but the city has decided against including themin the medium-term plans forMcKnight Boulevard, despite that route being identified for eventualHOV use in the long-term, city-wide plan.

Neither of those projects has funding or a specific time frame yet.

Kay said there is always some concern about "driver confusion" when implementing an unfamiliar traffic control but that tends to dissipate with time.

"Generally, as a type of traffic control is implemented more and more, people do become more familiar with them," he said.

"There is an initial resistance to putting them in, but once they are put in, they do handle traffic very, very well."