Time to Go Slow on the 91

Yogi Berra once summed up a popular restaurant: “Nobody goes there anymore. It’s too crowded.” The master of pretzel logic might as well have been talking about the Riverside Freeway.

Motorists have had plenty of reasons to mutter under their breaths while poking along the vital highway that links Orange and Riverside counties.

A few years back, grumbling targeted the failed experiment that allowed a private company to build a $130-million toll road along a 10-mile stretch of the Riverside Freeway. Irate motorists now are taking aim at the Orange County Transportation Authority, which is hinting that a fee hike might be necessary on what’s already one of the most expensive stretches of toll road in the country.

Lower tolls and shorter commute times were the goals last year when OCTA agreed to buy the controversial 91 Express Lanes. Consumers understandably want to pay less to use the toll lanes, but all Orange County residents must get assurances that lower tolls won’t end up forcing OCTA to pull financial support from other worthy projects.

The only certainty is that the commuting misery that has been decades in the making can’t be undone overnight. The problems will only be compounded if OCTA rushes into politically attractive but potentially damaging short-term fixes.

OCTA’s arrival signaled a welcome end to a ridiculous rule that had been holding Southern California commuters hostage by preventing government agencies from widening public lanes that run parallel to the toll lanes. The noncompete clause was a marketer’s delight for the private toll road company. What better way to make its lanes look good than to prohibit the government from adding public lanes?

OCTA already has announced plans to start widening the roadway, an important step toward getting traffic moving. OCTA, however, has ventured into new territory with the toll road purchase. So the agency’s board of directors should stick with its plan to move deliberately -- albeit, not as slowly as traffic on the 91 -- before tinkering with tolls.

The two ideas that have surfaced -- lowering fares across the board and allowing vehicles with three or more occupants to travel for free in toll lanes -- sound good. But both threaten to give OCTA a sugar high that could cause a big headache later. Pricing is the only lever that OCTA can pull to control traffic on the toll lanes. Therefore, the board must conduct the same diligence that retailers perform before raising or lowering the price of a bottle of merlot, a pair of Levi’s blue jeans or a compact disc.

Motorists make an estimated 25,500 daily vehicle trips on the Express Lanes. Experts say traffic on the toll lanes shouldn’t exceed 3,500 cars an hour in one direction or speeds will slow to unacceptable levels.

As the toll lanes stall, those willing and able to pay tolls will be more likely to turn in their transponders. And if revenue drops, OCTA could be hard-pressed to make debt payments and continue needed transportation work elsewhere.

So this is one case where moving slowly is the right alternative.