Another hand reaches for your wallet

So you've played by the rules, found a car pool (or bought a hybrid with a sticker) and you're happily zipping (well, sometimes) along in the carpool lane. Get ready: The rules could be changing. Our traffic guru, Steve Hymon, was at an MTA board meeting this morning where they approved that plan to make you pay to use the carpool lane.

The MTA board this morning voted unanimously to move forward on a plan to convert carpool lanes on parts of the 10 and 210 freeways in the San Gabriel Valley to congestion pricing lanes -- in other words, toll lanes.

Several board members said they would like to see vehicles with three or more passengers use the lanes for free. The plan is to use over $200 million in federal funds to ramp up express bus service on both not-quite-free-anymore-freeways.

Lots of bureaucratic hurdles before the plan sees the light of day, but we thought you'd want to know where things are headed.

--Veronique de Turenne

Illustration: Chip Kidd

Comments

[MARK JOHNSON]

Thank you for publicizing this! My family will be hit hard if this takes effect. According to MTA's website, the tolls will range from $4 to $10. So to go both ways, during rush hour, 5 days a week, will cost $160 to $400 a month!

Since my family carpools from Glendora to three separate cities -- Pasadena, Glendale and Downtown L.A. -- taking public transportation is a helluva a lot more expensive and time-consuming than driving in the carpool lane. Besides, my kids would have to ride the bus to their school in Pasadena alone (!) since my wife and I would have to take different buses to work.

We, like a lot of families, moved to the eastern edge of L.A. County because it was the only place we could afford a decent house. That means *we're not rich*. In fact we can barely afford our mortgage. We also barely have any free time, since our commute is so long.

We decided to buy the house, in spite of the expense and the long commute, so that our kids could grow up in a decent house in a decent neighborhood. We are barely managing as it is, money-wise and time-wise. Imposing this extra burden on us is literally intolerable. We cannot afford either to spend more money, or to spend even more time commuting than we already do.

Thanks again for helping to get the word out! Please don't stop!!

[Keith Maglio]

Why should we pay again for something our tax dollars have already paid for? Our Federal and State gasoline taxes were used to construct these lanes and now they want more money? They just don't get it: The public is getting tired of paying more and more for less and less while these over-paid "leaders" (I use the term very loosely, here) get fat pensions, over-paid staffs and are never proposing making people's lives better by providing superior service at the lowest possible cost. True leadership involves making tough choices; not simply raising taxes and fees as a solution for every problem.

The burden of this proposal will fall disproportionately on low and lower middle income earners who are already trying to adjust their budgets just to buy fuel and pay their bills.

California was once referred to as "The Golden State". Thanks to liberal politicians fleecing the public for their own gain and that of their Union Masters, we will be known as "The Fools Gold State".

[jeremy]

what you people and the LAtimes dont bother talking about is the reasoning behind this move.

federal and state funding for all of metros operations have basically come to a halt. and money for all those grand projects [subway to the sea, green line to LAX] have to come from some were. this is just a test, to see if the revenue generated is enough to make it worth metros time.

this, along with the proposed sales tax increase, would more then make-up the funding shortfalls from state and federal sources.

and i welcome anything that will generate much needed cash to increase mobility in this time sucking city

[Malby]

Why doesn't the MTA sell its outrageously expensive new headquarters palace downtown, use the funds for transit, and make its employees commute like everyone else?

[Marcotico]

1) The "Taxes already paid to build it argument" ignores the fact that gas tax is NOT indexed to inflation, so even if you (actually you 20-50 years ago) paid to build it, you are not paying enough to maintain it, and improve it.

2) It is a great irony of transportation planning that the carpool lanes are full at peak hours, but carpooling is declining as a portion of work trips in the LA area. This is because more people are travelling. So while it seems that backups in the carpool lane is a sign that they are working that also leads more people to abandon carpooling.

3) Also keep in mind that congestion charging increases real carpooling (taking your kids to school doesn't really reduce traffic, because you would have been taking that trip anyways). Even though you have to pay a toll if you can share that toll it is in effect reduced for each passenger and the driver.

4) One of the reasons the carpool lanes break down is that one slow person can ruin the flow of traffic. For that reason the pilot project has to be in specific carpool lanes where there are two lanes in each direction, and the lanes are easily seperated from normal traffic.

5) The principle idea behind congestion pricing, is that the price will keep traffic moving. Ironically this will mean that the free flowing lanes will carry more people then the jam packed normal lanes.

6) Finally, this is a pilot project. If it doesn't work then raise a fuss then, but at least give it a shot. Newspaper writers and blog commenters are always complaining that nobody does anything, and then when an agency tries something, they keep complaining!!! And no, I don't work at the MTA, but I am a transportation planner, and I want to see public agencies at least get the chance to try these ideas out.

Read the facts and figures on the 91 toll lanes. I was opposed to the ideas behind toll lanes until I started reading about them. The "lexus lanes" criticism has proven not to be true.

[LAofAnaheim]

"Why should we pay again for something our tax dollars have already paid for? Our Federal and State gasoline taxes were used to construct these lanes and now they want more money? "

Here's the same argument for public transit.....why do people pay fares to use trains/buses when our local, state, and federal taxes pay for this service? Get over it, freeways are not free. It's costing $1 billion to build a 10 mile carpool lane on the southbound only side of the 405 freeway. And, don't forget about the ongoing maintenance, who pays for that?

[Stephen]

If you cant afford to drive then find other means to move around town or find a job closer to you or move closer to the job. Nothing is easy in this life. If you moved 30 40 or 50 miles away from your employer, you should have really given it more thought. I dont feel sorry for people that think they deserve breaks when they didnt plan accordingly. Nothing Lasts forever, cheap gas, cars, andfreeways included. All you see is people complaining but no solutions to fix the mess our forefathers left us when they planned a city built around driving. I couldn't afford to drive so now i take the bus best thing i ever did. I dont feel the pinch of paying for gas. or the stress of siting in traffic