California License Plates + HOV Sticker

SWEET. I drove HOV lanes today. Fastrak Flex mounted on the Third Visor Frits worked too.
Even HOV lanes traffic was moving at 70+ MPH there are still some jerks wanted in and out of the traffic.

 

HOV lane here on I5 kind of sucks, only goes half way from work to home. It stops when the other lanes stop sometimes goes a little faster. The biggest advantage is I can get on the freeway much faster now using the dedicated HOV ramp. It does save time but no 70 MPH.

 

Just an update on this:

California just approved an extension to all HOV stickers for cars purchased after Jan. 1st, 2017 until 2022.

Bloom Assembly Bill 544, approved by the governor on 10 October 2017.

California Lawmakers Allow Clean Cars to Stay in Carpool Lanes | KQED Science

Some caveats apply but unless you are in a very high income bracket, purchasers in 2018 should be OK.

I've gotten so used to being in the HOV lane, I was kind of dreading the upcoming January 1, 2019 expiration. Current HOV sticker holders will need to reapply for the new 2022 sticker.

 

I read the referenced article,and it is not clear to me: Originally, the decals were set to expire Jan 1, 2019, one year from now. Under the new law, when can those of us who bought/buy in 2017/2018 apply for new decals with the 3 year extension to Jan 1, 2022? The article indicated that you need to apply in 2019, but by then, the existing decals will have expired. So will we be able to apply for the new decals before our current ones expire? And whatever the rules are, do they apply equally for for the green (plug-in hybrid) and white (alternative fuel) decals?

I would say, just read the law, but my experience with trying that suggests that it is futile unless one has a law degree, which I don't. It is full of cross-references to other laws, which may or may not have been superseded.

 

My basic understanding is that if you purchased a compliant vehicle this year or next year, you can apply for the new sticker good until 2022. But it's only for those who purchase new in 2017/18. This was apparently in response to complaints about those who buy this year or next only getting one year (before the current greenies and whities expire at the end of the year). My suspicion is that the new stickers will begin to show up before the end of this year. That's the time to get in the queue - if you don't want to miss any time in the HOV lane. Down here, the HOV lanes are just as crowded as the others - however - this may change briefly after the green/white stickers expire on Jan. 1 next year. By March/Apr, it might be clear sailing for a few months - but there are so many lane jumpers now, I don't know how a date is going to stop anyone from hopping in and out. Protected HOV lanes rock, but they are few and far between…

 

That might be our only advantage down here, and with the mess at Manchester for the next few years, it's really going to get ugly.

 

Tempered good news. I am glad to see this... though it's worth noting the following (esp for those who live in SoCal):

(1) More and more HOVs are no longer "free," even with a sticker. Many freeways you cannot use the HOVs even with a sticker, unless you have a FastPass (a FastPass costs money, and there are fees both when you use it, as well as low-usage minimum fees if you don't use it). It's this way on the 110 and 10 already -- and soon it will be this way for the entire 405 in Orange County, from the 605 to the 55 (construction to start early 2018).

(2) The carpool lanes are overcrowded as it is. Personally, I've found they still save time in the mornings for me, but are actually slower in the afternoons coming home. And with the limits to the stickers gone, they're just going to keep getting more crowded.

(3) I remember the original gold decals were $8. If I remembe right from 2017, the green ones went up to something like $25. I wonder how much the 2019-2021 ones will be...

Still, it's good to see that it did get extended. Even if the benefits of the HOV isn't all the time anymore, there are still times when it's helped out.

Interesting about the high income caveat... so those with high incomes will have to choose between their rebate or the decal extension (guess it depends on how much one drives).

I missed the fact that this got passed (was busy with other stuff), appreciate the updates here for letting us all know.

 

I believe there was a 30 or 60 day grace period to apply for the new stickers? In either case, around October I'll be checking much more often as to the earliest date I can apply for another 3 years of HOV membership.

Interestingly enough, on the 405, the HOV lanes are most valuable when you are right near the start of rush hour, say at 5:30 AM and 2:30 PM. The afternoons are much slower, though.

My biggest concern is going along at 65 MPH and some idiot lane hopper decides to cross over the double-double yellow lines and cut right in front of you. Then they jam on their brakes and cut back across the double-double yellows to hop back into the normal lanes when they think a cop is up ahead (or their exit I guess). Idiots.

 

I just purchased my Prime last night. So are ya'll saying that I should be able to get the stickers that are good until 2022? Or am I going to have to redo everything at the end of the year?

 

She is sharp,energetic most are not. Toyota at Roseville mall falls into the latter!

 

Hang tuf, good show.

 

Are you are referring to the Fastrak Flex transponder, like we have in Northern California? It has a switch to indicate 1/2/3 occupants. There is no recurring fee; only the tolls. I thought the FastTrak was usable anywhere in the state where there are tolls. Or is there something new in Southern California?

 

In SoCal, they will bill you if you have a transponder but don't pay enough each month. In other words, if you have a transponder and just never use it (or use it just for "free" carpools with decals and such) you'll be billed a low-usage fee. If that wasn't the case I'd have kept the one I got a couple years ago while I was doing a short-term job with someone else I could carpool with. But I never used it to "pay" (the only time we used the FastTrak was when we were a carpool with decals so there was no charge) and upon the 2-month job being done, I immediately got rid of it because I don't want to pay every month for not using something.

Not to mention just having it for not even 2 months, I was once billed in error, and had to fight them to get it taken off.

I don't have anything to do with a product where you pay a fee for not using it, period.

 

That is really weird. I double-checked our Northern California FastTrak page (http://bayareafastrak.org/), and it explicitly says that there is no recurring charge; you only pay for tolls. There is a minimum balance, but that is it. The account will be closed after three years of inactivity. And it specifically mentions that the transponder is valid on the following Southern California toll roads:

Los Angeles County

• Metro Express Lanes I-10 and I-110

Orange County

• The Toll Roads State Routes 73, 133, 241 and 261
• The 91 Express Lanes

San Diego County

• I-15 Express Lanes
• SR-125 South Bay Expressway

If you have Southern California address, they will bill you a recurring fee, but if you have a Northern California address, they won't?

 

Looks like that's the case then.
Have a look:
The Toll Roads
$2 monthly fee every month just for having the transponder, waived if you use $25 a month worth of tolls. No thank you. (The other options without transponders aren't valid on the main freeways like the I-10 and I-110, and soon to be the I-405). So in SoCal, those "free carpool lanes" on the FastTrak Freeways are in no way free.

I wonder if it's possible to sign up for the bayarea site for the transponder, and have it sent to SoCal instead, if the transponder is valid in SoCal freeways. I didn't dig too deeply into the bayarea fastrack's system... are you sure there's no monthly or low-usage fee of any kind, other than being closed without 3 months of activity? (and just curious, but I assume activity means being billed at least something, not just using it on the free settings?)

PS: just noticed in the bay area's FAQ it says "there are no fees to open or maintain an account", other than the refundable deposit, which is different than SoCal ($2 monthly fee if you don't use at least $25/mo in tolls).

Edit: also, the green decal policy is much better in N. Calif than S. Calif. I noticed the bay area's toll roads site says that solo drivers with the green decals CAN drive solo for free in the HOV lanes in the bay area. Not so here in SoCal: "Do Electric or Hybrid Vehicles Travel the Toll Roads for Free or at a Discount? No. All hybrid and electric vehicles pay tolls on The Toll Roads."

So for SoCal people, if you want free access to the FastTrak lanes (getting to be more and more freeways -- the 110, the 10 -- and soon to be the 405 for all of Orange County) you have to have 2 people in the car (3 for the I-10). So if it looks like I'll have a carpool in the future I may try to see about getting the account set up through the bay area division (if they'll do it, they may not based on the zip code) but for now I'll let it go. Still, good to know for the future if I ever think I might need one, I might try the N Calif route...

 

Been using Fastrak up here once or twice a month without fees. You used to be able to buy transponders up here for $25 preloaded with $25 worth of tolls. They're not disposable, you still have to activate the account. I don't know if they are still available.

I accidentally got onto a toll road in Irvine a couple years ago. I was pretty pissed off to see a $4.75 charge on my account despite the green decal. To make matters worse, my friend arrived at the destination at the same as me but she knew the area and didn't take the toll road.

 

I think you are mixing up Toll Roads with the Expresslanes. The Toll Roads which are really full highways that were private Toll Roads till the state bought them. They are still run as Toll Roads ie the entire stretch of the highway, all lanes, you have to pay for. As opposed to the Expresslanes (I10 and I110) that use the Fastrack system for payment. If you have the adjustable transponder all you have to do is select 3 on it and you don’t have to pay for the Toll. Confused yet?

See https://www.metroexpresslanes.net/en/about/howitworks_poster.pdf

Yes, you still have the minimum monthly fee to deal with but for the convenience a couple of bucks for me is no big deal..

 

The inactivity timeout for the Fastrak in NorCal is 3 years, not 3 months.

The web page with the $2/mo FastTrak fee is from the Transportation Corridor Agencies (TCA) in Orange County. The web page for MetroExpressLanes in LA County has a $1/mo Fastrak fee. And as mentioned, there is no monthly fee for FastTrak from bayareafastrak.org. All three web sites say that their Fastrak transponder is usable on all Fastrak facilities in California, not just theirs.

And the bayareafastrak.org site say that it is fine for out-of-state drivers to order them online; all you need is a US mailing address. So I wonder what keeps a SoCal driver from going on the NorCal Fastrak web site and ordering transponders, and then just using them in SoCal. It's not like you have to go to a FastTrak office in person to get them; I never have. Unless they have an agreement with the SoCal agencies to not accept SoCal addresses, but that is not mentioned anywhere on the Web site.

The distinction between toll roads and express lanes is important. As mentioned, toll roads typically have tolls for all drivers and don't recognize carpools; express lanes and bridges may have discounted or no tolls for carpools, and clean air decals may or may not be recognized to get the carpool tolls. A real weirdness is that the Golden Gate bridge is owned by a different authority than other Bay Area bridges, and recognizes only the white (alternative fuel) clean air decals, not the green plug-in hybrid decals.

 

A similar situation used to exist in the northeast with the EZpass system. It was recognized by NY/NJ/MA/etc. but depending on who you ordered it from, you would either pay a fee or not. I used a NJ EZpass for years when MA was charging something like $25 deposits for each transponder where NJ mailed them out for free.

Then recently, MA started charging more to people who use out of state EZpass transponders. Pretty sleazy of them. Fortunately MA is the only state doing this at the moment so I switched to using a transponder issued by MA (which is now free) but when NY and NJ each adopt the same crazy system, I'll need to get ,multiple transponders and switch them around as I drive between states. I'll also need to invest in some shielded bags so they don't see more than one transponder each time I drive through the scanner. It will be a pain but I refuse to pay them more for using the exact same road.

 

You're right, I was mixing up Toll Roads with the Metro Lanes -- though SoCal still charges a monthly fee just to keep the account ($1), NoCal doesn't. Especially for people who only use it for "free" (green/white decal) that makes it not really free for SoCal. Thanks for all the good information, though!