A pilot project allowing lone drivers to pay to use carpool lanes on the Queen Elizabeth Way between Burlington and Oakville will launch in September.

Starting Sept. 15, existing High-Occupancy-Vehicle (HOV) lanes from Guelph Line to Trafalgar Road will be designated High-Occupancy Toll (HOT) lanes in both directions.

Vehicles with two or more people will still be able to use the lanes in the 15.5-kilometre stretch for free, while those driving alone will have to buy a permit to do so, according to a news release from the Ministry of Transportation.

The main goal of the pilot, which could last up to four years, is to help manage congestion, while continuing to provide a carpooling incentive, the ministry said.

The permits will cost $180 for a three-month term and will be available to a limited number of applicants who will be selected through a draw.

Approximately 1,000 permits will be available for each three-month term.

Applications will be accepted online from Aug. 1 to 21 through ServiceOntario.

Permits will be valid for the first term from Sept. 15 to Dec. 31.

A ministry spokesperson previously told the Spectator the revenue from the pilot is expected to be "modest".

The idea is not sitting well with environmentalists and the NDP.

"I don't like it," Lynda Lukasik, executive director of Environment Hamilton, previously told the Spectator. "It means people can avoid appropriate behaviour by buying their way out.

"To me this is sending a mixed message. The lane should be common ground for people who have more than one person in their car.

"That's what really bugs me about it. It gives a privilege to someone who shouldn't have the privilege, just because they can afford to pay for it."

Mark Ferguson, a senior research associate with the McMaster Institute for Transportation and Logistics, said "the HOT lane idea is not new. It has been in the U.S. for a good 20 years."

He previously told the Spectator there is a different culture in the U.S. when it comes to toll roads, which has led to an estimated 500 kilometres of HOT lanes south of the border.

In the U.S. - where there are so many toll roads already - turning some highways into partial toll roads is an easier sell.

"It's interesting that we don't have more toll roads in Ontario, like other places in the world," said Ferguson.

Elliott Silverstein, manager of government relations at CAA South Central Ontario, said doing a small pilot, rather than a broad rollout, is a preferable way to introduce HOT lanes to the province.

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"I think doing a small stretch of highway and use it as a pilot allows not only a chance for the government to understand the system, but motorists as well."

But the big question, he previously told the Spectator, is whether drivers will take to the idea.

"That's the question we don't know."