With money tight, Dallas Area Rapid Transit executives want to convert area carpool lanes to paid toll lanes, and with board approval the agency could be operating the first so-called managed lanes in North Texas by 2012.
DART manages 84 miles of carpool lanes, also known as high-occupancy lanes, on area highways. It's a fast-growing and sometimes controversial network that regional transportation officials routinely praise for boosting carpools, reducing traffic and improving air quality.
Now, DART officials say the lanes could be used more often if solo drivers were given the right to buy their way into the lanes in return for faster commutes. It would also, the transit agency says, provide new revenue for DART when it needs it badly.
The idea is to sell the "excess capacity" in those lanes, said Koorosh Olyai, DART's HOV program manager.
Initially, Olyai said, the lanes would remain free for carpoolers as well as the buses, motorcycles and emergency vehicles that use them now. But as commuters get used to the new paid lanes, he told a DART committee last week, DART would probably increase the number of passengers a driver must have to use the lanes for free, from one passenger to two. That's consistent with current policy of the Regional Transportation Council.
DART's proposal, which needs board approval, would convert carpool lanes on two area highways by 2012, beginning with the I-35E/U.S. 67 lanes in South Dallas and LBJ Freeway east of North Central Expressway.
The lanes could produce between $4.4 million and $7.7 million a year, depending on the eventual rates, Olyai said. Once all the HOV lanes in North Texas are converted, which could take five years or more, the tolled lanes could produce up to $18.9 million a year, he said.
How much would drivers pay? DART would start by charging fixed rates between 14.5 cents and 33 cents a mile, depending on the time of day. By contrast, most North Texas Tollway Authority toll roads charge 14.5 cents per mile. But eventually, those rates would be replaced by so-called variable tolling rates, making the tolls fluctuate depending on demand. The busier the adjacent free lanes are, the higher the rates.
DART chairman William Valesco said he supports the move to convert the HOV lanes. Not only would it boost DART revenue, but it also would increase the number of people who use the HOV lanes, he and other board members said. The more drivers who use those lanes, they said, the fewer who will be left to crowd the free lanes.
Approval uncertain
But approval by the board is by no means certain.
"I am feeling taxed out here. I've paid for these roads with my taxes, and I am going to be asked to pay again? I am just so against this," said board member Faye Moses-Wilkins, who was appointed by Plano, Dallas, Cockrell Hill and Glenn Heights. "I look at the shape our HOV lanes are in now, with the broken pylons everywhere. As bad as it is now, we want to expand this program?"
Board member Richard Carrizales, appointed this summer by the Dallas City Council, said it struck him that allowing solo drivers to buy their way into the HOV lanes defeats their purpose.
"We're rewarding people who are otherwise not concerned about the environment," he said. "I just don't think we're at a point where we could approve this."
Still, the momentum in favor of the project is strong. A straw vote, to gauge support among 10 board members present for the briefing, showed that most wanted more information about how DART would implement the new policy. Only a couple opposed it outright.
And no matter what DART decides, Dallas will see free carpool lanes replaced by paid lanes soon enough. When the Spanish toll firm Cintra completes its rebuilding of LBJ Freeway, by 2015 or 2016, the existing HOV lanes will go away. Instead, the new highway will have four free lanes and three paid lanes. Rates on the paid lanes will vary according to traffic demand and are expected to be many times the rates on NTTA toll roads. Carpoolers will see a discount, but only during peak hours.
Similar paid HOV lanes will be part of the North Tarrant Express and DFW Connector highways, though in both of those cases there are no free carpool lanes in use now.
Plans to convert Interstate 30 HOV lanes to paid lanes are in the works, too – and are likely to move ahead even if DART's board rejects the plan proposed last month by staff. That project – already approved by the Regional Transportation Council – has been delayed because of a lack of funds to pay for the conversion and new toll gantries.
Michael Morris, staff director of the RTC, said he favors moving ahead with paid HOV lanes, but said there are many decisions still to be made.
"We could really gum this up if we don't develop a well thought-out comprehensive approach," he said.
Hurdles ahead
Still, approval by the DART board is just one of several hurdles facing the HOV conversion project.
DART must strike a deal with NTTA to develop a billing system.
To create the first truly managed lanes in Texas – lanes where the rates vary by congestion in real time – DART will have to find technology for measuring traffic congestion as it happens. Technology that can reliably determine how many passengers are in a car is still being tested, Olyai told DART board members.
"Some of the technology being looked at has been developed by NASA," he said. "So this is serious stuff."
Still, skeptical board members noted that DART already has had trouble enforcing HOV rules, even without the complication of tolling.
"This could be a nightmare," Carrizales said. "It just doesn't seem like we are ready for this."
DART spokesman Morgan Lyons said staff is finding answers to the board's responses and will give members another look at the plan later this month or in October.
In North Texas
•The first HOV lane opened in 1991 on Interstate 30.
•The HOV network expansion from 31 miles to 84 was completed in 2009.
•In 2007, the Regional Transportation Council modified the managed lane policy, setting a maximum rate for an introductory period of 75 cents per mile and giving carpoolers a 50 percent discount during peak hours.
Paid HOV lanes in the U.S. •More than 130 highways in 27 metro areas include HOV lanes, which are free for carpoolers.
•At least seven highways – including one in Houston – allow solo drivers to buy access to HOV lanes, as DART is proposing. Any vehicles that meet HOV requirements drive free during peak hours. Tolls are usually higher during the busiest times.
•At least one highway, S.R. 91 in California, has added so-called express lanes, where drivers can be charged even if they are carpooling. Officials are studying how to set tolls based on real-time traffic levels, an approach North Texas is considering, too.
Sep 1, 2010
