Published in the Toronto Star on November 26, 2014
By: Benjamin Dachis
Benjamin Dachis is a senior policy analyst at the C.D. Howe Institute and the author of “Congestive Traffic Failure: The Case for High-Occupancy and Express Toll Lanes in Canadian Cities.”
The Pan Am Games will last only a few weeks next summer. But the province wants the benefits from the Games to last long afterward. Its plan to create temporary carpool lanes on Toronto highways during the Games will worsen traffic next summer on Toronto’s highways. If the province wants to use the Games to benefit drivers for years to come it should convert the temporary carpool lanes into toll lanes.
The province recently unveiled its transportation plans for the Games. It intends to expand transit and biking routes. But the news that is going to affect most Torontonians is the plan to create a region-wide network of carpool lanes. The province has proposed 235 km of temporary carpool lanes for next summer on parts of Highways 427, 404 and 401 along with the QEW, the Don Valley Parkway and the Gardiner Expressway.
Also called High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes, carpool lanes are an ineffective way of dealing with traffic. HOV lanes can decrease overall highway capacity relative to general purpose lanes. Many HOV lanes are underutilized during peak periods while adjacent general purpose lanes are congested. The province admits that the temporary carpool lanes will more than double peak period driving times on many freeways if the province cannot convince regular drivers to stay off the freeways.
As a rule, many carpoolers would have driven together anyway. Remember the last time your family was driving together and happened to use the carpool lane? That’s what a large share of other carpool lane users are doing. Carpool lanes don’t change travel behaviour much. That makes them ineffective at reducing congestion.
This is not the first time the province has tried to roll out carpool lanes. The province has had longstanding plans to add 450 km of HOV lanes on most of its 400-series major highways in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton area over the next two decades.
What’s the alternative?
The province should convert the planned Pan Am carpool lanes into what are known as High Occupancy Toll (HOT) lanes. A HOT lane is a dedicated lane that carpooled vehicles — usually carrying three or more people — can access at no charge. However, single-occupant vehicles can access the lane for a fee. The highway operator can increase tolls to prevent the lane from becoming congested during peak periods.
Drivers move between HOT and free lanes based on how they value the time spent on a particular trip. That switching maximizes each driver’s use of highway space.
Carpool lanes help the lucky few, but slow down the rest of the drivers. HOT lanes make everyone better off. But don’t take only my word for it. Jonathan Hall, assistant professor of economics at the University of Toronto, has found that adding a HOT lane shortens rush hour, which directly helps all road users. He finds that the economic benefits of reduced congestion from HOT lanes are more than $1,000 per road user per year.
Adding a toll to only one lane – not the whole road – gives drivers a choice to pay, or deal with traffic as usual. A guaranteed free-flowing lane will mean better bus and public transit service. HOT lanes also generate revenues that can be put back into transportation infrastructure.
HOT lanes should be coming elsewhere. The government’s 2013 budget promised the province would introduce HOT lanes to replace existing permanent carpool lanes on some provincially operated freeways. The best legacy of the Games would be for the province to turn the temporary Pan Am carpool lane network into a HOT lane network.
The province wants the transportation investments for the Pan Am Games to have a lasting effect on the region’s future growth. Converting the temporary Pan Am carpool lanes into permanent HOT lanes would be a transportation legacy to be proud of.
