LOS ANGELES—The Metro Board of Directors voted to continue operating toll lanes on the 110 and 10 freeways through January 2015 on April 24.
In addition, the Board also voted on a motion that initiated a $1 maintenance fee on all Express Lane accounts in an effort to recoup the $2.3 million cost of issuing the transponders for Lane users and other operating costs. Board member and County Supervisor Zen Yaroslavsky voted against the motion. An exception was made to equity accounts, or those accounts who receive a discount to toll fees due to low-income status.
The vote came after a preliminary analysis from an independent firm retained by the Federal Highway Administration tracked the progress of the Express Lanes during a 12-month pilot program that ended in February 2014. The I-110 Express Lanes stretch from Adams Boulevard to the 91 freeway, and the I-10 Express Lanes go from the 605 freeway to Alameda Street in downtown Los Angeles.
Among some of the statistics tracked by the analysis was one that showed that travel times decreased in both the 10 Express Lanes and the general purpose lanes, the regular lanes, during the morning peak periods. On the 110, travel times increased on the Express Lanes during the same morning period, while the general purpose lanes saw a decrease in travel times. In the evening peak period, the general purpose lanes saw an uptick in travel time, but the study noted that this figure had gone down as the pilot period continued on.
The greatest beneficiaries of the Express Lanes were “single-occupant vehicle drivers” who managed to save an average of 17.11 minutes in the morning peak period and 13.86 minutes in the afternoon peak period on the 10 Express Lanes. Those who drove on the 110’s Express Lanes saw a savings of 12.80 minutes in the morning and 7.81 minutes in the afternoon.
Ridership on Silver Line buses increased by 27 percent as the bus line took advantage of the lanes. The project had an original goal of having 100 new vanpools created, which was exceeded by 17 during the pilot period phase. In terms of the transponders issued, the original goal of 100,000 was also exceeded with a total of 259,524 transponders issued, while net toll revenues were counted at $18 million, ahead of the original target of revenues between $8 and $10 million.
A staff report from Metro included a survey taken of both carpool lane and general purpose lane users who were asked if they thought if the construction of toll lanes was a good idea. 63 percent of carpool lane users and 37 percent of general lane users replied with a “yes,” while 32 percent of carpool lane users and 63 percent of general purpose lane users responded with a “no.”
