If the HOV lane is gridlocked, that means the price to use the HOV lane is not high enough. Keep raising the toll until traffic in the HOV lane moves at the desired speed.
By "price", you point out that California "HOV" lanes... aren't.
"Carpool/HOV" lanes have been political toys from the start. A true carpool means more than one would-otherwise-be driver per vehicle. A minority of HOV lane users in CA have more than one licensed driver. The rest are "kidpools", "hybrids" (which, for all but the first 10-30 miles on a charge are less efficient than non-hybrids), "non-polluting vehicles" (pure electrics, CNG, fuel cell), buses, and government vehicles.
Such lanes are now as crowded as conventional lanes more often than not.
Actual trip reduction could be obtained by limiting HOV use to actual carpools (>1 licensed driver) and buses with passengers, and narrowing their hours of exclusivity a bit.
They set a max price on those lanes because otherwise poor people would get stuck in even worse traffic while rich people would be able to move quickly. That's already true but they are trying to minimize the disparity between rich and poor.
You could also make the argument that a rich persons time is worth less because they can afford to hire people to do what poor people have to do themselves, like clean the house or go shopping or drive their kids around. They are also more likely to have a job that can be done from home.
"Carpool/HOV" lanes have been political toys from the start. A true carpool means more than one would-otherwise-be driver per vehicle. A minority of HOV lane users in CA have more than one licensed driver. The rest are "kidpools", "hybrids" (which, for all but the first 10-30 miles on a charge are less efficient than non-hybrids), "non-polluting vehicles" (pure electrics, CNG, fuel cell), buses, and government vehicles.
Such lanes are now as crowded as conventional lanes more often than not.
Actual trip reduction could be obtained by limiting HOV use to actual carpools (>1 licensed driver) and buses with passengers, and narrowing their hours of exclusivity a bit.