Los Angeles transit officials and commuters are embroiled in a brouhaha over whether three freeways in the region should be converted from free-of-charge car-pool lanes to toll roads.

The switch would come as a relief to commuters willing to pay for a quicker drive to work. Conversely, the drivers who now use the car-pool lanes for free would have to pay. Suffice it to say, they're not happy about that.

This Los Angeles Times story quotes Charles Tarlow, a commuter who is none-too-pleased about the proposed change: "I think it's a horrible direction to go and I think it's immoral to sell the diamond lanes. I also think it's outrageous that the feds take the position that they'll give us millions of dollars for lanes that exclude people who can't afford to pay for congestion pricing ..."

"Immoral." "Outrageous." Just call it a debate coming to a well-populated and well-traveled city in Washington state near you. That's because the Puget Sound region will, in 2008, become home to the first HOT (high occupancy toll lane) in the state when the state Department of Transportation opens HOT lanes on Highway 167 between Auburn and Kent next spring.

The four-year pilot program will allow solo drivers to pay to drive in the less-congested bus and car-pool lanes. The toll will vary depending on traffic volumes and the time of day. So far, much of the discussion of this pilot project has centered on how high the tolls could go. More about that here. Really, though, the biggest issue likely will center on fairness just as it has in Los Angeles.

That is, is it fair that commuters who can afford it be allowed to pay to drive in less-congested bus and car-pool lanes that are now being used by commuters for free? Remember, bus and car-pool lanes are intended to promote mass transit, not commuters who drive alone. Yet, lone drivers are going to be the ones who get to pay to get to work faster.

So. Fairness. That will become a huge issue here, just as it has become in Los Angeles. The only difference is that Washington state and Puget Sound will take it slowly with a pilot project whereas L.A., having missed out on the some key federal transportation grants, is scrambling to adopt a congestion pricing plan to win federal dollars.

"We're just too congested to turn our backs on that kind of opportunity," Carol Inge, chief planning officer for L.A.'s Metropolitan Transportation Agency, tells the LA Times.

Agency officials go on to say that the congestion pricing plan, which includes converting car-pool lanes on the 110 Freeway in South L.A., and the 10 and 210 freeways in western San Gabriel Valley, will add revenue to shore up the region's crumbling roads and will improve traffic congestion on the converted car-pool lanes.

"Add revenue to shore up ... crumbling roads." Hmm ... where have we heard that before? The pilot project coming to Puget Sound region is a doozy because it's unfamiliar and it's going to raise the hackles of many a commuter. Question is, how do you tell a driver who thinks freeways are, in fact, free (they're not, and that's for another blog), that we're going to charge you because it's good for roads, the economy and you?

If anyone has an answer, I'd love to hear it.