Other Texas cities reduce HOV lanes while Bexar County expanding them

They've been used in other cities for years to reduce traffic congestion and emissions. But high occupancy vehicle lanes, or HOV lanes, have not been popular with some Texas drivers.

Some big Texas cities are moving away from carpool lanes while Bexar County prepares to create more of them.

We currently have HOV lanes on I-10 and Highway 281 North outside Loop 1604. TxDOT wants to add them to portions of Loop 1604 and I-35. They're even being studied for other, closer-in sections of I-10 and 281.

We watched the HOV lanes on I-10 and 281 North and observed what many drivers complain about. The lanes are supposed to be just for vehicles with more than one occupant, to encourage ridesharing.

However, we noticed a lot of solo drivers using the lanes as an extra passing lane.

"Honestly, I don't think I've ever seen a vehicle with more than one passenger in it, which is against the rule, so that's a little maddening," said San Antonio driver Sarah Crimmins.

SAPD enforces our HOV lanes and they told us a ticket can run $232 if they catch you crossing the double white lines to improperly enter the lane, or if you disregard the signs requiring two or more occupants per vehicle.

Crimmins, who drives I-10 every day, says she doesn't believe HOV violations are a high priority for SAPD.

"If there's no enforcement to me it would make sense just to open it up and let everybody use it," Crimmins said.

That's the direction they're going in Dallas and Houston.

They removed the pylons separating HOV lanes from the other lanes and now anyone can use them except during peak traffic hours.

"When it's not congested, we open it up for any vehicle. When it is congested, we're still restricting it to the HOV's and the electric vehicles, the green vehicles," said Natalie Bettger of the North Central Texas Council of Governments.

Bettger says drivers were using the lanes improperly and enforcement was difficult.

"It's hard for anybody to look in a vehicle and say 'okay there's two people in there, okay now I've got to go chase them down and give them a ticket for this', so the enforcement element of this was very challenging and not safe," Bettger said.

In Bexar County TxDOT constructs the HOV lanes and has an agreement with VIA Transit to manage them, since VIA's buses also use the lanes.

We asked if there are any plans to open up our HOV lanes to regular traffic during off peak hours.

In an email TxDOT says it does have "flexibility based on travel and traffic demand" however "Currently, HOV lanes have been identified as the most effective option . . . in order to preserve capacity and reduce congestion for the traveling public."

So, it doesn't look like we'll be making a lane change anytime soon.

"Open it up so there's another full lane of traffic for everybody," Crimmins said.