Are you ready to pay to use carpool lanes, L.A?

They've been a failure in terms of getting people to ride together.

And the just-ended program that allowed 85,000 hybrid-car owners to purchase permits for them only made the lanes into classist tools.

But letting single drivers pay for access? That might work:

Some traffic experts have long argued that paying more for lane access, parking and gas would get us to think long and hard about mileage, carpooling and public transportation.

The “High-Occupancy Toll” (HOT) upgrades for the Harbor (110) Freeway and San Bernardino (10) Freeway south and east of downtown are a done deal. The 110 upgrade was expected to be wrapped up late next year; the 10 in 2013.

Groundbreaking for the “ExpressLanes Project” happened today. Such lanes already exist along the 91 freeway in parts of Orange County.

How much? ” … Between .25 cents and $1.40 a mile depending on demand,” according to Metro, which is behind the project.

So will you pay?

[@dennisjromero/djromero@laweekly.com]

Advertising disclosure: We may receive compensation for some of the links in our stories. Thank you for supporting LA Weekly and our advertisers.