In Southern California, transit officials are converting 25 miles of carpool lanes on the 10 and 110 freeways into such toll lanes. The MTA plans to start charging tolls for solo drivers using a section of the 110 Freeway between Adams Boulevard and the Artesia Transit Center in October and the 10 Freeway between Alameda Street and the 605 Freeway in February. Legislation, AB 2405, passed the Assembly on a 49-25 vote and moves to the state Senate for California assembly bill would stop MTA from tossing electric cars from carpool lanes. - latimes.com
It's all about making money right now. I wouldn't put it past our knuckleheads to start charging people to park in front of their own houses at night if they don't have a driveway.
Considering what people are willing to pay for a car that can use those lanes, I hope they price them exorbitantly high.
Judging from your location, you don't have a dog in this fight. So why begrudge people that do, and want to take advantage of a law duly passed by an elected body? I very rarely drive on the two freeways mentioned, and by the time the experiment is finished and any other HOV lanes are converted, the access period for PiPs will most likely have expired (1/1/2015). But I'm not knocking those people who are concerned about it.
I am not sure where you got the impression I was begrudging anyone anything. My point is that economic efficiency would seem to indicate that a high price was best for everybody concerned. The price should be at the point where enough people are willing to pay it that it gets full, but not overly full, usage. Too cheap, and the lane will be overcrowded, negating any benefit to anybody. Too expensive, and the lane will be underutilized. I have heard that these lanes save some people an hour a day. That would seem to indicate that the value is high.
What the country really needs is higher priced gasoline (via gas tax). That we in California use sales tax to pay for road improvements because the State does not collect enough gas tax (this applies for many other states) is criminal. Toll roads charge the same for a Leaf as for a Hummer (to take our own horse out of the comparison). If you want the country (the world) to use less gasoline, then you need to advocate for higher gas taxes and fewer toll roads.
