Freeway toll lane plan in legislative hearing today

Detailed information on the much-detested plan to charge tolls to use the carpool lanes on area freeways has finally come to light and guess what? It ain't that bad a plan (update: not so sure about this assessment anymore- see update section below).

Carpool lane drivers who can already use the lanes for free- two-person carpools on the 110 Freeway and three-person carpools on the 10 Freeway- will still be able to use those lanes for free. So what the change boils down to is that single-driver cars can now pay for the right to use the lane.

I think that if MTA had come out and sold the plan this way from the start there would have been much less opposition to the idea. Instead they sold it as an end to carpool (HOV) lanes and the beginning of toll (HOT) lanes.

I only see two ways that this could turn out badly, and one of them really isn't bad. First, is if so many single cars pay to use the fast lane that it becomes crammed with traffic.... the upside to this, of course, is that if that happens, then demand for the lane drops, and then the traffic will lessen. Worst case scenario: the lanes don't reduce congestion and nobody will pay for them. After the two-year demonstration period, the MTA pulls the plug on the project and walks away with $210 million in federal funding that it will have mostly spent on high-speed buses and vanpools.

The only other problem is that the state legislation is written in a way that the MTA's carpool plans are only set in stone for the two-year demonstration period. In theory, they could change up their plans after that period and start charging two or three-person carpools to use the lanes.

For the San Gabriel Valley, the burden of testing the lanes has also been reduced since the MTA agreed to move the demonstration project from the 210 Freeway to the 110 Freeway, leaving only the 10 Freeway stretch between the 605 Freeway and downtown to be the guinea pig.

The last thing to keep in mind, however, is that there is still no guarantee that this project goes through. The state legislature will probably pass it, but Southern California congressional members have been making noise for months about how they plan to pass federal law banning the use of federal funds for congestion pricing schemes. Rep. Gary Miller, R-Brea, has said, in fact, that the federal legislation is guaranteed to pass.

I'll be working on this story today, and will inquire whether guaranteeing that carpool users get to keep their access to freeway lanes will change the minds of Miller and other local members of congress.

UPDATE: I may have spoken too soon. After speaking with a congressional staffer, there are two other points to be made here for opposing the plan. First, and this I can't yet verify, the staffer claims that on the 10 Freeway three-carpool cars may not be able to use the lane for free all the time. During off-peak hours they may be charged. Secondly, and this I have verified from looking at the agreement between the federal government and MTA, if the plan is passed, the state gives away its power to make a determination on when a carpool lane is not functional. So if the toll lane speed drops consistently below 45 mph on the 110 Freeway, for example, the feds could change the toll rules to charge two-person carpools. I am guessing this means that congressional opposition to the plan will still be strong.