When The Economic of HOV Lanes Doesn't Make Sense

This from the local Hartford Courant: Economic Drive Local HOV Lane Use. The gist is, that people use HOV lanes more often when gas costs more- in other words, people tend to carpool when fuel costs hit them harder in the pocketbook. Duhhhhh. More evidence that like the monorail, HOV lanes are a stupid waste of time. What makes this story so bizarre is the end of the article, which quotes from an interview with Department of Transportation official Jim Andrini:

One seeming anomaly shows up in the statistics. I-91 HOV usage is highest during weekday rush hours, as would be expected. But the heaviest use of the I-84 HOV lanes comes on weekends. Average weekend traffic on I-84 westbound is 10 percent higher than weekdays, and on I-84 eastbound it is 25 percent higher.

Andrini said it has become clear that vacationers and long-distance business travelers, many of them from out-of-state, take advantage of HOV lanes on weekends, beginning with Friday evening eastbound traffic.

Even if HOV lanes emerged as a way to ease rush-hour congestion by encouraging car-pooling and mass transit, "it isn't all about commuting," Andrini said. "If we can draw in vacationers on weekends - great. It's tremendous."

Or in other words, HOV lanes really really don't work in some spots. Yet this guy is excited? I almost get the impression that he thinks the HOV lanes are drawing in tourists on the weekends- for those not from Hartford, there is no one in Hartford on the weekend and there is never any traffic getting in to the city. Maybe I'm getting the wrong impression, but that still wouldn't explain why he's so excited that HOV lanes serve no purpose whatsoever.