Ontario drivers without passengers will be able to pay fee to use carpool lanes.
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As they have done in other jurisdictions such as Minneapolis, Seattle and Atlanta, HOT lanes will help reduce congestion in general use lanes and help them move faster, as well as promote behaviour changes by encouraging people to carpool.
The government will limit the number of permits that will be issued to drivers who want to buy their way into the QEW’s carpool lane during the pilot project.
Following the QEW pilot project, the first dedicated HOT lanes with electronic tolling will be on Highway 427, from south of Highway 409 to north of Rutherford Rd., when that highway extension opens by 2021.
The four-year pilot project on the QEW will start next summer, but Transportation Minister Steven Del Duca said he won’t announce how much the toll is until next spring. Let us know in the comments.
“This is what I’ll call another weapon in the arsenal that we have with respect to being creative to fight congestion in the region”, said Steve Del Duca during a press conference in Toronto Monday morning. “Single occupant drivers who choose to use them will have to pay”.
“We hope to build an HOT network here in the GTA over time”, said Del Duca.
The Conservatives and New Democrats both oppose the plan. PC Leader Patrick Brown has said that “we shouldn’t be taxing existing roadways”, while Andrea Horwath has taken things step further and dubbed the project “Lexus lanes”, which inadvertently adds to their Drakeness.
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The idea was originally proposed in Dalton McGuinty’s 2013 budget as a method of raising money to fund infrastructure and last month the Liberal Government said that HOT lanes would only be created on roads where HOV lanes were already in place.
