Studies Show That Converting from HOV to Express Benefits Transit

A December 2015 report from the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials shows that transit benefits from Express Lanes. Across the U.S., transit ridership and speeds increase when HOV goes HOT.

Converting the I-395 HOV lanes to Express Lanes will offer dedicated transit funding, tools to manage congestion and a greater incentive to travel by bus. The experiences in other metropolitan areas demonstrate the possibilities.

See the results below from major cities that converted to Express Lanes. Critically, across these cities on average, one third of new transit riders previously drove alone.

Miami  

• Average bus travel speed increased from 18 to 55 mph on the I-95 Express Lanes
• Travel time decreased from 25 to 8 minutes
• Average weekday ridership increased 57 percent from 2008-2010 to August 2011
• 53 percent of riders said tolling affected their decision to use transit

Los Angeles

• On-time performance increased for bus rapid transit on I-110 Metro ExpressLanes
• Average daily peak period ridership increased by 52 percent in the AM peak and 41 percent in the PM peak after USDOT-funded service was added
• Ridership increased again by 29 percent in the AM peak and 25 percent in the PM peak after tolling began

Minneapolis

• Bus speeds increased and bus travel times decreased after I-35W converted to HOT lanes