>> Yeah. Some years ago Caltrans figured the freeways would not have
compression [too many vehicles] traffic jams ever if the average passengers
per car went from 1.1 or 1.2 to 2.2. Probably still true.

Sigh. <<

I think we can blame this on the way companies work employees to death.
Back when my father worked for the phone company in the 60's and 70's he
used to car pool every day to Washington, DC with 4 people.  Most of the
other dads in the area car pooled to their destination also.  That's because
they knew what time they were going to work and what time they were getting
off. These days people go in at all hours in the morning and have no idea
what time they are getting off work. It could be 5 PM, it could be 10 PM.
You can't car pool when your employer believes you should be there for
randomly long hours every day.  It's a shame.  They do have HOV lanes down
there in VA but I'm not sure how those are working out.

Bryan