Maybe the point is that HOV lanes are meant to be an incentive to carpool. And simply buying your way out of those requirements does have a whiff of “let them eat cake.”
Now, if they are simply toll lanes, but one can be excused from the toll if they have more than one person in the car it is a different argument.
well that’s exactly what it is, those with 3 or more pay no fee, but anyone else wishing to use it, pays the toll. I thought from what he was saying is that because they are under-utilized even with car-poolers, that’s why they added in the “pay to use”. Now were it ever to reach the point where it was nearly as congested as the other lanes, then its worth would be greatly diminished.