High-occupancy toll

So imagine you and your friends are going on a car ride to a fun place, like an amusement park. The car you're in has space for 5 people, but only 3 of your friends are coming with you. So you have extra space in the car.

Now, sometimes when there are a lot of cars on the road, the people in charge of the highways and roads want to encourage more people to share cars. This is because having fewer cars on the road is better for the environment and helps reduce traffic jams.

So they might decide to make a special lane on the road that only cars with 3 or more people in them can use, and they call it a "carpool lane." This way, if you and your friends are driving to the amusement park, you can use the carpool lane because you have 4 people in your car – and it's less crowded and faster than the other lanes.

Now, let's say that the people in charge of the highway notice that there are still some cars without enough people in them using the carpool lane. They want to encourage these drivers to use another lane, but they don't want to punish them or make them feel left out.

So they come up with the idea of the "high-occupancy toll" or HOT lane. This is a lane that works just like the carpool lane, but instead of requiring a certain number of people in the car, it requires you to pay a fee. The fee is usually more expensive during times when the road is really crowded, like rush hour.

So if you're driving to the amusement park alone in your car, you can still use the HOT lane – but you have to pay the fee. And if you're driving with friends, you can use the carpool lane without paying anything extra.

Overall, the goal of the high-occupancy toll is to encourage more people to share cars and reduce traffic, while also giving drivers more choices for how to use the roads.