How this sucker will work is that if a car wants to drive in the car-pool and doesn't have somebody to drive with them to make it a car pool (hey, you could always hire a prostitute to get that car pool requirement down), you could just hop in the car pool line but only if you pay for it. The price for riding solo in the carpool lane will go up and down depending on how heavy the traffic is. If it's heavy, man, the price will be high. If it's not so bad, it won't be for that much. Prices start at $1 and could top out at $9 and the tolls will be done all Fast-Trak like.

One of these things is being created for a southbound fourteen-mile stretch on Interstate 680 from Pleasanton to Milpitas by 2010. Another one is being planned for Highway 101 and state Route 85 two years later.

So what's the benefits of all of this? It does ease congestion, especially in places that are known for being congested. Places that have used them have found that they do work and that people from all sorts of strata use them. The hitch, of course, is that it's still an experiment so it's not exactly been proven. Also, there's equity issues-- it's not sure whether everyone can afford to use this-- so expect one of those "CallTrans Declares War on Toll Challenged" headline to come pretty soon.