In “The scourge of ‘stealthflation’ – Companies have found sneaky ways to raise prices. Where will it end?” The Economist aired a litany of egregious ways in which companies try to foist higher prices on consumers. Some of the violations appear to result from insufficient competition in the marketplace. Some of the violations come from […]
Convoluted Carpool Lanes Carpool lanes started as a simple energy-conservation and pollution-reducing incentive: multiple people riding in a car get access to a special lane that typically moves faster than other lanes of traffic. Over time, transportation agencies and regional governments have piled on a range of goodies into these lanes. Electric vehicles and hybrids […]
Planning a family trip can be daunting. Parents and guardians must balance a myriad of preferences across eating, sleeping, and entertainment preferences all while maintaining a budget. A wrong turn or a small mishap can cascade into major vacation disruptions and undermine the best plans and budgets. I recently faced these important analytics challenges while […]
Over three years ago, I wrote “Not Worth the Cost: A 17-Month Case Study of Congestion Pricing in the SF Bay Area” as an analysis of congestion pricing on the Express Lane for Highway 237 in Milpitas, CA. I concluded then that the opportunity for saving time was not worth the price of the toll […]
On November 29, 2013, I wrote a piece titled “Not Worth the Cost: A 17-Month Case Study of Congestion Pricing in the SF Bay Area.” In that piece, I presented data I manually collected on toll costs for the westbound Express Lane on Highway 237 (running from Milpitas to Sunnyvale, CA) versus the drive time […]
On March 20, 2012, the Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) implemented congestion (or dynamic) pricing on a critical San Francisco Bay Area thoroughfare called Highway 237 that primarily connects commuters from the East Bay to the South Bay. This change converted an existing car pool lane into an “Express Lane” which now allows solo drivers access […]
