I disagree. The HOV lanes on I-5 allow me to work at my job. My daily commute is at least 3 hours total (Sometimes as much as 4 hours). If I didn't ride the bus (and thus use the HOV lane to avoid most of the traffic), I cannot imagine how long my commute would be. If the goal of HOV lanes is to increase use of mass transit and to increase carpooling, I would say they are very successful.
Move...
" If the goal of HOV lanes is to increase use of mass transit and to increase carpooling, I would say they are very successful."
Unfortunately that goal is not served by allowing people with children in their cars to count. The system only "works" if it causes someone else (another driver) to elect not to drive but instead ride with someone else.
You're right, HOV lanes are about the only way to make longer-distance mass transit feasible. I lived in Ottawa (Ontario, Canada) for a while and the transit system there was fantastic. In the city the buses had sunken transit routes used only by buses that they could travel around on very efficiently, not having to mix with other traffic. Since my commute was a from a ways out of town the bus used the QueensWay (local expressway) to get into town, and if not for the transit lanes on the QW it, again, would not have been feasible. But in that case the transit lanes were basically part of an extra-wide shoulder and were not used by other traffic. HOV lanes for car-pooling are, IMHO, a poor use of a lane.