Toll HOV lanes finally profitable for King County

OLYMPIA — Pay-to-use carpool lanes in King County are finally turning a profit for the state.

The so-called HOT lanes on Highway 167 between Auburn and Renton are making money after three years of red ink, The Tacoma News Tribune reported on Tuesday.

The improved fortune is both a mix of new bookkeeping and more drivers willing to pay for the faster lanes.

The state Department of Transportation said it is spending less on the lanes because now overhead costs are spread among more projects.

The state has charged nearly two-thirds of the costs of a new state tolling hub to the state Route 520 bridge project, even during the months of delays in tolling drivers crossing Lake Washington. Tolls on 520 start Thursday after glitches cost the state an estimated $1 million a week in missed revenue.

“As you add facilities, of course, you gain efficiencies,” Department of Transportation spokeswoman Patty Michaud said.

Michaud said the state also got a better deal on back-office services by switching to Electronic Transaction Consultants Corp. from the previous back-office vendor, TransCore.

However, the allure of the less congested lanes is bringing drivers. The state estimates that drivers on the HOT lanes go 60 miles per hour while others go around 45 mph.

In fact, the HOT lanes would have kept losing money — even with the accounting change that began in mid-February — if not for a steady rise in the number of drivers paying to use them.

The average number of drivers on Tuesdays through Thursdays — the most consistent traffic days — topped 3,000 starting in March, up from just more than 2,000 a year earlier, the DOT said.

HOT lane revenue for April, May and June hit $239,000, the highest ever. Revenue increased by half over the same period in 2010.

It dipped a little in the period spanning July, August and September, the most recent dates available, but spending also declined, allowing profit to grow to $17,000.

There, too, the 520 bridge is helping. As Eastside residents have opened prepaid Good to Go accounts in preparation for 520 tolling, they have become potential customers for the state on 167.

“With our sales increase in passes for the 520 toll bridge, I think people are saying, ‘I’ve got my Good to Go pass; I can try these out.’” Michaud said.more than 2,000 a year earlier.