Traditional high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes require passenger vehicles to have a minimum number of passengers. “HOT” lanes is short for “high-occupancy toll” lanes. HOT lanes are HOV lanes that allow vehicles that don’t meet occupancy requirements to pay a toll to use the lane. Variable pricing is used to manage the lane so that reliable performance is maintained at all times. HOT lanes have proven to be more efficient than traditional HOV lanes. In addition, in many cases the adjacent General Purpose lanes also benefit from the resulting reallocation of vehicles in the corridor. While communities may call them by different names, such as Fast Lanes or Express Lanes, the basic operation is the same—HOT lanes encourage carpooling and other transit alternatives while offering vehicles that do not meet standard occupancy requirements another option. (Author/publisher)
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