As someone who lives in the region, the lanes are complete gouging. They diverted a tremendous amount of tax dollars to build them, and then turned them over to a private company to collect these dynamic tolls. Part of the deal is that cars with 3+ people don't pay tolls.
The 495 corridor is one of the worst traffic areas in the United States -- the number of lanes needs to be doubled to support current demand. In past snow storms, it has jammed up so severely that cars ran out of gas sitting in traffic. When severe weather occurs, Virginia needs to eliminate the tolls and open up as many lanes as possible. We paid for the lanes, and we should be able to use them when we need them most.
Re:$30 Toll to Use Express Lanes
by denzil_correa on Friday January 06, 2017 @09:55AM
(#13336635)
> They just get people home faster than the regular lanes.
OR - the other people who can't use these lanes get to their destination slower?
No, the express lane also makes the non-express lanes faster than they would be otherwise, by increasing overall capacity (although that's ignoring induced traffic).
Re:$30 Toll to Use Express Lanes
by denzil_correa on Friday January 06, 2017 @10:56AM
(#13337250)
Yes and why is $30 the right price to do so?
Additionally, I suspect that in these conditions if they charged the regular prices, so many people would take the express lanes that they would slow to a crawl like the rest of the road, frustrating their purpose.