Effectiveness of the Katy Freeway HOV-Lane Pricing Project Preliminary Assessment

Abstract

The QuickRide program, implementing priority-lane pricing on the Katy high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lane in Houston, Texas, is described. The program allows two-person carpools to use the HOV lane for $2.00 during peak periods, when the lane has a three-or-more person restriction. The use of QuickRide during its first 6 months is reported, and an analysis of the program’s effectiveness is presented. QuickRide usage and data from before and after implementation are employed to analyze users’ travel patterns, observed travel time-savings, and changes in person-throughput in the Katy Freeway corridor. The results of this analysis show that the participation in the QuickRide program is too low to observe significant impacts on travel speeds and person-throughput in the general-purpose lanes and the Katy HOV lane. Also, the analysis indicates that use of the QuickRide program reached a plateau about two months after start-up. Participants seem to be using QuickRide occasionally or infrequently, and a majority of the participants do not use it at all in any given week. Most of the QuickRide users appear to be previous two-person carpool commuters, with a substantial minority of single-occupant vehicle (SOV) drivers now forming carpools to participate. Higher vehicle-occupancy modes are not losing many patrons to the QuickRide program. An analysis shows that travel time-savings for participants are substantial and are worthwhile for two-person carpools, with a value of time exceeding $6.57/hr. However, the analysis also indicates that, at this initial stage, the observed changes in vehicle- and person-throughput are not statistically meaningful. To improve participation in the program, a lower fee is recommended, and marketing efforts should be enhanced, especially to SOV drivers.