To reduce traffic, LA Metro has tried costly freeway lane additions, building more carpool lanes and converting HOV lanes into toll lanes.

Some changes have worked for a short while but ultimately, like new lanes on the 405 Freeway, traffic flow returns to gridlock status with commuters languishing in what Los Angeles Mayor and Metro board member Eric Garcetti calls “soul-stealing commutes.”

On Thursday, Jan. 24, the Metro board will vote on development of a pilot program that will allow only five-person cars or vanpools to ride toll free on the 10 Freeway ExpressLanes.

Vehicles with two persons exempt during non-peak times, and carpools with three persons exempt all the time, will no longer ride toll-free. They will join solo drivers in paying tolls that can max out at $15.55 per one-way full-length ride.

Pay-as-you-go

Six years ago, a traffic-busting idea was launched by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Using federal dollars, Metro converted a 14-mile stretch of bus and carpool lanes along the 10 Freeway, and an 11-mile stretch on the 110 Freeway into pay lanes called ExpressLanes.

The biggest change? Allowing single-occupant drivers to move left and ride the carpool lanes — lanes heretofore unavailable to them — for a daily fee.

However, the pay-as-you-go policy increased solo riders in the I-10 ExpressLanes by 58 percent since 2014, according to a new Metro report.

Of all the users, 65 percent are solo drivers. Carpools with 3 persons make up 4 percent. Vanpools account for 2 percent, according to a 2018 Metro count.

To make matters worse, Metro concluded many solo drivers are cheating by switching the required dashboard transponder from “1” person to “3” persons, tricking the overhead electronic monitoring devices into giving them a free ride, said Shahrzad Amiri, Metro executive officer of congestion reduction.

“Folks in the ExpressLanes are misrepresenting themselves and avoiding paying the toll,” she said.

The Metro report described “a sizable proportion” of cheaters but did not list a number or percentage.

Another consequence of solo cheaters falls on transit riders, the very cohort Metro is trying to increase to reduce congestion, air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.

Foothill Transit’s popular bus commuter line, the Silver Streak, running in part along the ExpressLanes down the middle of the 10 is reported late 28.1 percent of the time, said Felicia Friesema, Foothill Transit spokesperson.

Metro was forced to add time to its own Silver Line bus runs because of traffic congestion.

Now, ExpressLanes are so clogged that Metro must cut off solo drivers during peak times just to maintain speeds above the federally mandated 45 mph, a response that has increased 250 percent since 2014.

New plan

Co-authors of the motion, LA Metro Board Member and Duarte City Councilman John Fasana and Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda Solis, believe it’s time to expand access to five-person vanpools and buses, conveyances originally intended when the lanes were built in 1973.

“While the initial ExpressLanes showed some promise, it is time to take the next steps to maximize the number of people moving along that corridor,” Fasana said. “The main thing is to get those lanes moving, to at least 45 mph.”

Under the new plan, counting all people in private carpools or vanpools of five or more, the number of people in the ExpressLanes would increase by 600 a day during morning peak hours between 6 a.m. and 9 a.m. and afternoon from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., for about a 4 percent increase, said Robert Campbell, LA Metro transportation planning manager.

But ideally, the number of cars with fewer than five people would be reduced.

Prices are figured using an algorithm that charges higher tolls when there’s more congestion and lower tolls with less congestion.

Those who can afford will pay, setting up what some critics call “Lexis Lanes” that give wealthier drivers a faster commute, while low-income drivers must stay in the slower, general purpose lanes.

There are no plans to alter the rules for the 110 ExpressLanes between Adams Street in South Los Angeles and the 91 Freeway.

Support?

Metro reported a majority of riders surveyed did not support the changes. Also, only 25 percent expressed any interest in joining a vanpool.

The change would dump more riders onto the general purpose lanes, adding four minutes to a typical commute.

It also would cause more backup at the spot where the ExpressLanes join the 605 Freeway, as riders of 2 and 3-person carpools attempt to merge out of the lanes to avoid or lessen fees, Campbell said.