High occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes are used as a congestion management tool in many areas to encourage carpooling and transit by offering faster, more reliable trips than general purpose lanes (GPLs). However, they draw criticism from some groups as some motorists believe that they are underused. This article uses extensive data sets to compare user costs, specifically time and fuel costs, for two scenarios(1) a single reversible HOV lane and (2) a GPL in each direction on the Katy Freeway in Houston, Texasover a variety of mode and time shifts. These two scenarios were chosen because they would require approximately the same amount of room in the median of the Katy Freeway. With both high occupancy/toll operations and slugging on the Katy Freeway, the authors set out to see if this highly used HOV lane was the best use of this valuable real estate. Or would a pair of GPLs have provided lower total travel costs? In almost all examined scenarios, the two GPLs case had lower user costs than the HOV lane case.
