[mikeash]

It seems like a positive impact for people who can't afford it here in Northern Virgina. The express lanes didn't take capacity away from the normal lanes, but they do take away some traffic, so in theory people who don't use them should still be better off.

[felideon]

Ah, right. I think down here the problem is that the capacity for normal lanes did get reduced.

[mikeash]

Yeah, that's a substantial difference. If it's purely additive then at worst there's some sort of opportunity cost. If they transform normal lanes into paid lanes then it's a whole different sort of thing.