Metro ExpressLanes are not living up to their name.

Since opening up miles of pay lanes as an experiment three years ago, too many solo drivers are riding the converted car-pool lanes on segments of the 110 and 10 freeways, causing speeds to drop to levels that could result in federal highway funds being withheld.

To fix the problem, the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) board raised the price of a peak ride by 10 cents per mile, effective Feb. 1. Metro lowered the off-peak toll by 15 cents. Both are efforts to move solo commuters out of pay lanes during morning rush hours and into off-peak periods on the ExpressLanes along the Harbor and San Bernardino freeways, explained Shahrzad Amiri, Metro’s executive officer, for congestion reduction programs.

“We’ve come to the conclusion that a market-based policy is best way to respond to congestion levels out there,” Amiri told the board at its Jan. 28 meeting.

Some board members were not convinced that tinkering with tolls will solve the problem, saying the toll amounts — and the algorithms used to calculate them — are the problem.

Metro board member and L.A. County Supervisor Don Knabe said the pricing schemes are confusing to commuters. He can’t explain the prices to those who call and complain. “I use them a lot and there’s just no rhyme or reason to the pricing. I couldn’t tell you what it will be next Wednesday,” he said.

Sheila Kuehl, who also sits on the Metro board and the Board of Supervisors, said she was against allowing solo drivers to ride the car-pool lanes by paying. “It is very Rube Goldberg in a lot of ways,” she said. “I think it is very convoluted.”

Dynamic pricing uses formulas that calculate the cost of a ride in real time, based on volume of cars and speed. The more congested, the higher the toll.

ExpressLanes on an 11-mile stretch of the 110 Freeway between the 91 Freeway and Adams Street near downtown Los Angeles are clogging up with solo drivers, as are the ExpressLanes on the 10 Freeway between the 605 Freeway and Alameda Street.

When congestion occurs, speeds drop below 45 miles per hour, causing the signs above to flash “HOV Only.” This means solo drivers will be charged maximum tolls, about $15.75 on the 110 and $15.55 on the 10. Less than 1 percent of more than 515,000 toll-lane users who’ve purchased transponders they’ve affixed to their windshields pay this amount, Amiri explained, because most exit the lanes to avoid higher tolls. (Car-poolers, motorcyclists and drivers of electric or plug-in electric vehicles with green or white stickers ride free. All must buy a transponder from Metro for $40.)

Knabe said this will cause more ExpressLane users to veer into general purpose lanes. “People know where the meters are and they pop in and pop out. It is like bumper cars out there,” he said.

The ExpressLane overload occurred for 13,038 minutes (217 hours) in 2015; of those, 11,584 minutes were on the 110 ExpressLanes (at 108th Street to Gage Avenue and Slauson Avenue to 39th Street), and 1,454 minutes occurred on the 10 lanes in the San Gabriel Valley (between the 710 Freeway and Garvey Avenue). All the “HOV Only” incidents happened during morning commute times, i.e., solo commuters trying to get to work on time in downtown Los Angeles by traveling northbound on the 110 and westbound on the 10, Amiri explained.

The new pricing raises the maximum from $1.40 to $1.50 per mile but only on congested segments and not when delays are caused by road work or an accident. Amiri couldn’t say exactly how much more solo commuters would pay, but said Metro only could raise peak tolls 30 cents more per year. “The current maximum price … does not appear to be enough of a disincentive for toll-paying customers to choose not to enter the ExpressLanes,” she wrote in a report to the board.

Will the increase be enough to chase solo drivers back into general purpose lanes or ride the ExpressLanes earlier or later, or car-pool?

“Yes, we are hoping it will make a difference,” she said.