Bay Area commuters be fore warned you will need to have FasTrak toll collecting transponder for your Prius in order to apply for the HOV Hybrid sticker. Here's the wording. Preferential Lanes Allows no more than 75,000 hybrid vehicles meeting specified advanced-technology standards to be issued Clean Air Vehicle decals until January 1, 2008. Applicants whose vehicles are registered to addresses within the nine Bay Area counties will be required to submit documentation verifying enrollment in the automated FasTrak system to receive the decals, unless FasTrak is not operational for HOV lanes on seven specified bridges. Implementation contingent upon federal approval Here's the link. http://www.dmv.ca.gov/about/leg/leginfo2005_vr.htm
"unless FasTrak is not operational for HOV lanes on seven specified bridges. " Is FasTrak operational on the HOV lanes? How can it be both a free lane and lane automatically charged via FasTrak?
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(ScubaX\";p=\"111834)</div> Fastrak lanes are not HOV lanes since anyone can get Fastrak for their cars. All the law says is that if you live in the SF Bay area and you want to qualify for driving your Prius in the HOV lanes you must first be enrolled in Fastrak. This should be no problem since all you have to do is apply for FasTrak (FasTrak Website) and provide them with a credit card number to bill your bridge crossings against. There is this clause in the agreement that if you don't use the service enough they can bill you for some service charge but when I called them I was told that they are not doing this now. Although it might become an issue in the future since Fastrak provides a transponder to attach/carry in your car and it must have some cost associated with it. Currently, I don't drive enough on freeways during heavy commute times to see where HOV lane usage would be an advantage. (I take the train. )
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(mehrenst\";p=\"113839)</div> Fastrak lanes are not HOV lanes since anyone can get Fastrak for their cars. All the law says is that if you live in the SF Bay area and you want to qualify for driving your Prius in the HOV lanes you must first be enrolled in Fastrak. This should be no problem since all you have to do is apply for FasTrak (FasTrak Website) and provide them with a credit card number to bill your bridge crossings against. There is this clause in the agreement that if you don't use the service enough they can bill you for some service charge but when I called them I was told that they are not doing this now. Although it might become an issue in the future since Fastrak provides a transponder to attach/carry in your car and it must have some cost associated with it. Currently, I don't drive enough on freeways during heavy commute times to see where HOV lane usage would be an advantage. (I take the train. )[/b][/quote] The point of my response is that the law as written states that Fastrak must be enabled on the HOV lane for all 7 bridges for it to take effect. Otherwise the requirement for a Fastrack pass will not be implemented. Read the last sentence of the paragraph of RadMarv's comments. Then go find the actual law at his link. It is very clear that all 7 bridges must have Fastrack enabled on the HOV lane. Maybe they do, but I doubt it. The last time I was across the Dumbarton bridge it had a separate lane for HOV and two for Fastrack.
It's OFFICIAL! Here's the wording on the NEW application. *IMPORTANT: Evidence of an Automatic Vehicle Identification System FasTrakTM account MUST BE submitted with this application in order to obtain stickers for hybrids registered in Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano, or Sonoma counties. Call Bay Area FasTrak at (877) 229-8655 or visit www.511.org for more information. If enough of the Bay Area Prius/Honda eligible owners get a transponder and don't use them, I'll bet that there will be a non usage charge initiated.
I have a friend who wants to get the Clean Air Vehicle sticker, and is in an area where evidence of a FasTrak account must be submitted with the app, but doesn't have a FasTrak account yet. As you can imagine he wants to send in his sticker application right away. If he signs up for Fast Trak online, do you think he could submit a printout from the online application as proof that he has a FasTrak account? Or will he have to wait to get some sort of "official" receipt in the mail to use as proof?
Whatever the theoretical legal/political delays, the California DMV's apparently decided they are ready to go. From http://www.arb.ca.gov/msprog/carpool/carpool.htm: "This page updated August 10, 2005 Recent enactment of the 2005 Federal transportation bill allows California to fully implement Assembly Bill 2628. AB 2628, signed into law on September 23, 2004, allows single-occupant use of High Occupancy Vehicle (HOVs) lanes by the cleanest alternative fuel, hybrid, and full-electric vehicles. Use of these lanes with only one occupant requires an identification sticker issued by the California Department of Motor Vehicles. Please note that not all alternative fuel and hybrid vehicles meet the requirements . . . of AB 2628 and only the following vehicles (Prii included in list) qualify for single occupant HOV lanes stickers."
As you guess, California HOV threads are popping up all over Priuschat. Since I already have Fastrak, I am trying to determine how to prove it to the DMV. You can read an account of my progress in the following thread: Thread on California HOV forms
I don't have the links but... #1. If you are putting FasTrack on a hybrid you MUST apply using the "special hybrid" FasTrack application. It appears that the transponders for hybrids are from a separate number group so they can tell you're a hybrid and charge you for crossing the bridge even though you are in an HOV lane. If you have 3 people in the car then you put the transponder in the plastic bag they give you so it won't be read. #2. If you already have FasTrack you MUST exchange transponders. This requires that you fill out the special hybrid application and have it processed. FasTrack will give/ship you a new transponder in exchange for the one you have. And BTW, the HOV decals are a set of 3. One (about 5") is applied to the rear bumper on the right. The other two are applied to the rear quarter panels on both sides of the car behind and slightly above the wheel. This one is about 7" and, IMO, it is ugly. Also, I'd like to know what happens to your paint job when you remove the decal. It appears that they stick well enough so that when they are removed the decal is destroyed. I was going to go for this until I found out about the size/placement of the large decals. I don't think I want to subject by nice new white Prius to looking like a moving billboard. ukeleft:
With respect to my post above, I have finally obtained the sought after receipt and new transponder. For details, return to the thread at http://priuschat.com/forums/viewtopic.php?...p=115555#115555 . The continuation is on page 2 of the thread.
