Believe me, they've tried. They've been flushing gas tax money down the toilet of public transit for years, to no avail. Governor Davis, at the dedication ceremony of a new section of freeway a few years ago, declared that it was the last one that would be built in California. Yet no matter what they do: diamond lanes, trolleys, subways, buses, yada yada yada, people just insist on driving their cars. It's time those idiots in government face reality and start spending the money on building more roads and relieving congestion.
Don't get me started on Diamond Lanes. This is the worst idea since Jerry Brown declared war on Freeways. I think the only reason that we still have Diamond Lanes in California is (I'm guessing but I'm a pretty good guesser) that A) The politicians get to ride the Diamond Lanes even if they have no passenger and B) Federal funding for freeways requires Diamond Lanes.
My personal experience with Diamond Lanes is that they are killers. Very very bad accidents on the 91 Freeway in LA were routine when I was driving that route back in the late 90's.
Most of the overturned vehicle and fatal (looking) accidents were in the Diamond Lanes. Just imagine yourself driving 80 miles an hour down the Diamond Lane when the traffic on lane to your right is moving at about 15 miles an hour. It only takes on bozo for that 15 mile an hour lane to cut into the Diamond Lane illegally and take your life. If anyone has a source of data on the relative Diamond Lane accident rate I would be very interested.
Another amazing thing to watch is the Diamond Lanes on weekends when about 75% of the cars on the road qualify to drive the Diamond Lane. The Sheeple still think that the Diamond Lane is the fast lane. Hardly. Not on weekends. It is the slow lane. Amazing to watch.