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However, it makes no sense to base the pricing on the number of passengers in the car. A car with one occupant uses the same amount of pavement as a car with four occupants. The passengers can of course split the toll, but it doesn't make sense to give them an additional discount.

I think you're missing the point. The idea is to encourage people to car pool. Four people in one car takes up less space than four people in four cars.

I think you're missing the point. The idea is to encourage people to car pool. Four people in one car takes up less space than four people in four cars.

But the tolls should encourage people to carpool, so you don't need an additional incentive. You want a mechanism where each car has to pay some amount, because each car uses up a certain capacity of the space. A car is a car is a car and uses some amount of road space. If I'm in a traffic jam of four person cars or one person cars, I'm still in a traffic jam. True, perhaps there would be more cars without the HOV discount, but if there's ever a backup on a congestion-based toll road, it simply means the tolls aren't high enough. The HOV discount is merely an effort at social engineering.