How do carpool lanes in the US work?
- By
- Aparna Patel
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- 3 Aug, 2023
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At the entrance of a carpool lane, a sign always indicates how many people are required in each vehicle to be eligible, since situations sometimes vary.
The sign can say “CARPOOL ONLY – 2 OR MORE PERSONS PER VEHICLE”
In Los Angeles area, nearly all carpool lanes have a minimum of 2 passengers.
I only have seen one case in which three passengers were required. At the time of my visit in 2009, the freeway heading east of Union Station to El Monte had passenger requirements that depended on the time and day of week. In normal hours, 2 passengers were enough; in weekday posted rush hour times, the requirement was 3 passengers.
Be careful in the area : now, there is a new system called ExpressLanes running on I-10 and I-110 freeways. The concept is that people not eligible to enter the lane may buy their way in by paying a congestion-priced toll, instead of getting a fine. Toll collection happens electronically, and uses a compulsory transponder. Legitimate carpoolers who used to simply drive through the lane are now required to have the transponder on ExpressLanes, even if no toll is charged for them. The transponder has a switch to indicate the number of occupants.
Other freeways still have the “classic” carpool lanes.
Credit:stackoverflow.com‘