CA Green HOV sticker toll in Bay Area, carpool lane access in LA area

Green stickers permit the following in So Cal:
Single occupant use of HOV lanes and Carpool lanes on freeway entrance ramps
Exceptions are currently in place on two LA area freeways, the Harbor (aka "The 110") and San Bernardino (aka "The 10 or I-10".) They are part of an experiment to charge varying tolls depending on traffic flow. These require an electronic pass with settings for the number of passengers, and can be used with the green sticker. Fines can be assessed, so beware.
Finally, there are also toll roads for which the electronic pass is required (no cash accepted) and the green sticker has no value. You might check with the issuer of the electronic passes in your area to see if they are also good on So Cal toll roads.

 

Bayareafastrak.org
About Fastrak -> Clean Air Vehicles

 

A California Fastrak transponder will work on any California Fastrak system. So even if you have the Bay Area Fastrak transponder, it will work with the Metro Expresslane Fastrak, 91 Fastrak, OC Tollroads Fastrak, etc. For the 10/110 Fastrak, you are required to have a transponder to use the lanes, even as carpool use (unlike some Bay Area ones) otherwise you WILL receive a fine in the mail. Also for 10/110 (Metro Expresslanes) you need the Fastrak transponder with the switchable 1/2/3 number of occupants to use free as carpool (set to 3 if you have green stickers).

 

This is 1/2 correct. You can use the green sticker for carpool lanes. You can use the green sticker for carpool lanes approaching any Bay Area bridge toll plaza. You CANNOT use the green sticker for the carpool lane at the toll plaza itself to get a discounted toll unless you have the required # of passengers (only the white sticker allows that).

Some carpool lanes approaching the Bay Bridge are physically separated all the way to the toll plaza, so with the green sticker, you cannot enter that particular lane by default unless you have the required # of passengers. If you try to "exit" the lane at the last minute, CHP will cite you for crossing the solid white lane lines.

 

Do you guys know of anyone getting ticketed for going thru' the bridge carpool toll booth with a single-occupant, green-sticker vehicle?
Most people seem to have no idea that they are not supposed to do that.

 

I read that the SF Bay Area will be converting to switchable transponders sometime in 2015, for the same reason that they are used in Southern California (discounted but not free HOV lanes for carpoolers). What I worry about is exactly how we are supposed to get the new transponders. The FastTrak web site pretty much says that all you have to do is drop by the FastTrak office in San Francisco and conduct your business. I would rather get a root canal procedure before driving to San Francisco.

 

AAA offices in So Cal have the transponders available. Maybe that will happen up there as well?

 

I may be wrong, but the green stickers do allow single occupancy, discounted, use of the carpool lanes at the toll plaza. Read it here, FasTrak for Clean Air Vehicles.

California law allows single-occupant use of High Occupancy Vehicle (HOVs) lanes by certain qualifying clean alternative fuel vehicles. Eligible clean air vehicles may use the FasTrak carpool lanes on bridges and qualify for the discounted toll rate with an active FasTrak tag. Eligible clean air vehicles do not require a FasTrak tag to use the Express Lane network.

 

From looking at the various web sites, the green decals are recognized in the carpool toll booth of all SF Bay Area bridges EXCEPT the Golden Gate Bridge. I think that this changed a few years ago; the old yellow decals were NOT recognized (you could use the carpool lane on the bridge approach, just not use the actual carpool toll booth....) . The web site for the GGB specifically says that the white decals are recognized but the green are NOT. It is your responsibility to know that the GGB is operated by a different agency than all of the other SF Bay toll bridges, and has a different set of rules.

Bureaucracy at its best.

Edit: this information is not correct. Green decals are not recognized on SF Bay area bridges. Please see subsequent posts for details. Sorry!

 

The Golden Gate Bridge still allows single-occupant use of the HOV lane with green stickers, but the discount from $7 to $4 does not apply.

 

According to this BATA's web page, green stickers are not eligible for the discount:
Bay Area Toll Authority - Tolls and Traffic
Cars with green stickers are not ILEVs by federal classification. If there was any bill passed between July, 2012 and now that mandates discount bridge tolls for all CAVs, please let us know.

 

Green stickers are not eligible for bridge toll reduction due to the fact it is classified as TZEV instead of ILEV.
PURE Electric cars are ILEV because they meet the Federal Inherently Low Emission standards. A Volt and Plugin Prius are TZEV, Transitional zero emissions.

If you read any of the bridge toll page:
FasTrak® - Keeping the Bay Area Moving
FasTrak® - Keeping the Bay Area Moving
FasTrak® - Keeping the Bay Area Moving
FasTrak® - Keeping the Bay Area Moving

They say it right there. Any single occupancy "ILEV" cars w/ decals.

And if you want the classification of the decals, you go to the ARB site: Eligible Vehicles - Single Occupant Carpool Lane Use Stickers

Here is a blog post that details everything: Fortysomething Geek: Green vs White HOV decal sticker debate. Sorry Volt and Prius, no discount toll for you.

 

@40 thank you - new info for me. This seems like an easy violation to CORRECT. "I was entitled to be in the HOV lane, and there was no safe way to change to a regular FASTRAK lane when it came time to pay the toll. I would be happy to pay the additional $2-3 to the court and set the matter right." Tney could also use the plate readers to extract the proper toll, which is also an argument to dismiss any penalty. I don't drive my TZEV over bridges, generally take the ILEV on those trips.

 

Well, I guess that the green decals are not eligible for the SF Bay area bridge carpool discount. Thank you for the correction. It all depends on how good one is with Web searches. Sorry for incorrect info. The web page that I was looking at did not make the ILEV distinction; it just mentions clean-air decals. But my point about bureaucratic arbitrariness still applies. If they are going to have HOV decals, they should just make the car be equivalent to an HOV for all purposes, and not have all these *#&*@! arbitrary confusing rules. Or not have the #%*^@* decals at all.

BTW, how do CNG vehicles qualify as inherently low emission? Don't they emit just as much CO2 as gasoline engines? With all the emission scrubbing, isn't that pretty much all that comes out of the tailpipe of something like a Prius? After all, natural gas is methane, which is just a simpler hydrocarbon (carbon chain length = 1) than gasoline, but is basically the same thing chemically.

 

I was in the Bay area in early April, going W/B on I-80 over the Bay Bridge, and I can definitely confirm that the toll occurs even with a transponder set to "3."

 

That bridge takes you from blue territory to blue territory, and can't acknowledge anything from Red territory. [OC]

 

Thank you for clarifying that no discount is offered on any Bay Area bridge tolls.

I reviewed California Senate Bill 853 and it does allow withholding reduced-rate passage from "AT PZEV" vehicles on State owned bridges, but does not prohibit use of lanes designated for high-occupancy vehicles.

For my now selfish reasons I choose to interpret this to mean that I am allowed to use the HOV lane at a State owned bridge's toll plaza but can be charged full price.

 

Once again, you are looking at an old bill. SB 853 was drafted in 2003 for the yellow sticker AT PZEV is partial zero emission yellow sticker. CA ARB states the AT-PZEV benefits ended in 2011.

The new law. AB 266 extension to 2019 states...
source: Bill Text - AB-266 Vehicles: high-occupancy vehicle lanes.

(g) If the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, serving as the Bay Area Toll Authority, grants toll-free and reduced-rate passage on toll bridges under its jurisdiction to a vehicle pursuant to Section 30102.5 of the Streets and Highways Code, it shall also grant the same toll-free and reduced-rate passage to a vehicle displaying an identifier issued by the department pursuant to paragraph (1) or (2) of subdivision (a).


Basically, it says ..."IF...." the toll authority decides to... Meaning the state has left that discretion to the transit authority to set the bridge toll. In this case, they've already made it clear toll reduction is only for ILEV.