Freeway changes in South Bay

Interesting news item from this morning's Mercury that will affect everyone in South Bay:
Carpool changes ahead: 3 people may be the rule

Specifically, the proposal would uniformly increase the number of people in a car for the carpool lane to 3 people. The other part of it would be to introduce the idea of paying a toll for a solo driver to use the carpool lane.

Personally, I don't do a whole lot of driving during the prime rush hours - I typically leave for work after 9 am and leave work for home close to 7 pm. So it'd be interesting to consider whether I'd be affected by this change. In general though, I don't know any carpoolers personally - and I'm guessing there are very few people that could find 2 people to carpool with. There is a portion of the article that mentions the possibility of lengthening the morning carpool hours to 10 am rather than the current 9 am, and that would definitely affect me.

However, the idea of paying a toll for the right to use the carpool lane - that is intriguing. Again, I don't know if I'd use it because I don't drive during rush hour much, but I think it's a very sensible idea.