In the hope of reducing gridlock, high-occupancy toll lanes opened up between Burlington and Oakville early Thursday morning, the first of their kind in Canada.

The HOT lanes allow 500 motorists to drive without passengers on the QEW between Trafalgar Rd. in Oakville and Guelph Line in Burlington, in lanes usually reserved for high-occupancy vehicles.

But this luxury comes at a price: $180 for a three-month permit.

Provincial officers arrived early in the morning to monitor the progress of the HOT lanes, as well as to ensure that no single drivers without the permit were using them.

“The whole concept here is to alleviate some of the gridlock in the main driving lanes, and make more use of the HOT and HOV lanes,” OPP Inspector Doug Fence said.

What say you?

The lanes, running close to 16 km. on the QEW were announced by the provincial government back in June. More than 3,400 people applied for the 500 permits which were allocated in a lottery.

Up to 1,000 permits will be sold every three months. Permit applications and renewals for the next term, Jan. 1 to Mar. 31, 2017, open on Nov. 1.

Bob Nichols, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Transportation, said that permits are non-transferrable.

Buses of all types, licensed taxis or airport limousines, emergency vehicles and electric vehicles with green license plates have unrestricted access to the HOT lanes, no matter how many passengers are in the vehicle. Cars carrying two or more passengers are also to use the HOT lanes for free.

To be identified as permit holders, drivers need to place a sticker provided in the MTO package in the front-left corner of their windshield, and in the back-right corner of the windshield.

Drivers caught using a HOT lane without a permit could face one of two penalties: a $110 fine plus three demerit points for improper use of an HOV lane, or a pilot offence, which carries a fine of between $250 and $2,500.

The project aims to alleviate rush hour traffic. It will run for two to four years as the government collects data to help plan future HOT-lane development.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

In July 2015, the free high-occupancy vehicle lanes that were in use during the Pan Am Games were the inspiration for the new HOT lanes put in the place Thursday.

During the games, Premier Kathleen Wynne said that the HOT lanes would be an “important source of revenue” to help bankroll a 10-year, $130-billion plan to improve public transit and reduce severe traffic.

With files from Ben Spurr and Peter Edwards