This morning The Washington Post finally tackles the issue of HOT Lanes (High Occupancy Toll Lanes) after months of uncritical rah, rah cheerleading for them. This issue has mostly flown under the radar as in theory the concept sounds good (like London's congestion pricing) but the devil is indeed in the details. Yet again there is no such thing as a free lunch!
Lessons of Calif.'s Toll Lanes
Appeal and Hazards Offer Glimpse of Va. Beltway to Come
Soon, though, the secret was out. More and more drivers filled the Express Lanes, and on some nights the drive wasn't so express. Road operators reacted by jacking up the peak-hour fees -- to $2.95, and later $4.75, then $5.50 and more. Last month, Gottesman was staggered to learn that his evening drive would now cost as much as $7.75 a day.
More on the flip side...
There have been some bumps in the road, however. The private firm that built the Express Lanes through the median of Route 91 -- the primary link between booming Orange County and the fast-growing but cheaper suburbs of Riverside County -- negotiated a "non-compete" clause in its original contract that barred local governments from making any improvements on the free lanes that might steal customers from the four-lane toll road.
Commuters eventually balked, though, and Orange County ended up buying out the firm for $207.5 million in 2002, allowing it to finally add some long-awaited lanes to the freeway.
Same old same old -- "outsourcing" that cost more than had the government done the job in the first place!
Also in the Metro section of the paper, they take on the local angle -- the wonderful slug system would be in danger
New HOT Lanes Could Imperil Carpool Practice
Free-Riding 'Slugs' Object To Virginia's I-95 Plans
It's unclear how slugging started, but lore dates it to the early 1970s, when commuters hoping to form carpools for the HOV lanes would gather at bus stops. Slug is the term for a fake coin in a bus farebox, and it is believed bus drivers characterized the waiting carpoolers that way because the commuters, though at bus stops, were not riders.
Their peculiar practice -- the only other known successful slug system is in the San Francisco Bay Area -- is a significant boon to traffic. Virginia officials said that most of the 35,000 or so carpoolers who use the I-95 HOV lanes daily are sluggers. If the system broke down, they said, those people probably would drive themselves, adding thousands of cars to the highway.
Slugs are skeptical that they will continue to be allowed to ride free. They point to California, where carpoolers in Orange County said they were given the same promise but now pay half-price during some peak hours.
Area carpoolers said they also fear that many drivers will decide to pay a toll rather than pick up passengers.
"Right now, people are cutting back on carpooling because the HOV lanes are getting crowded," said slug Corey A. Stewart (R-Occoquan), who is a member of the Prince William Board of County Supervisors. "With the addition of toll-paying autos, you lose the incentive altogether to carpool."
So there you have it, a supposed way to get roads "for free" that end up costing more than you ever expected, actively dicourage carpooling and actively encourage single car usage and worse pollution.