Driving in HOV lane without sticker

[leaftoy]

That’s true.

My main commute is through the bay bridge from the east bay M-F which I’m not violating any rules there. IMO, I think the CHP pays more attention about an ICE car driving in the HOV without two/three people (Easier to catch and fine) than an EV with CAV stickers that’s solo riding with 3 toggle on a CAV tag. Is the cop going to stop me and check that my toggle is set to 1? Has that happened to anyone?

I don’t know if the cops are enforcing Flex violations at all but if they are I would think they would blindly check if the Flex count matches passenger count and not make a distinction between ICE and CAV. What’s the point of focusing on ICE violators but not CAV violators?

I think the CAV one looks just like the flex with a CAV sticker on the tag. You just need to send a scan of your CAV registration for verification and swap. If you have a rental car, you can just temporary add the rental car license plate to your fastrak account for during the rental period and it’ll be billed accordingly to your fastrak account. I’ve done that a few times. Just double check when you return the rental car that it’s removed from your account once you’re done with the car rental.

 

[leaftoy]

Did you have a regular flex at one point t and switch to CAV. If so did they make you turn in the old one.

You can keep the old one. And use it on another vehicle on your account. I believe up to 3 devices are free per account and additional ones have a nominal fee.

 

[jwuwu]

I don’t know if the cops are enforcing Flex violations at all but if they are I would think they would blindly check if the Flex count matches passenger count and not make a distinction between ICE and CAV. What’s the point of focusing on ICE violators but not CAV violators?

In my experience, I've only seen ICE vehicles being pulled over a few times on the HOV lane, usually solo occupants driving in the express lane by Dublin merging right after from 560 to 680. Could be other violations though. I haven't seen an EV pulled over yet during express lane hours. I'm not sure how the CHP are enforcing or they even have a system tied in with fastrak to check besides a visual confirmation.

Did you have a regular flex at one point t and switch to CAV. If so did they make you turn in the old one.

No, they didn't make me turn in the old one. They just sent me a flex with a cav sticker. Here's my tag for reference-

More info on the CAV tag-

Clean Air Vehicles - FasTrak

 

[malicenfz]

I've been doing it the last week on the 105 in LA and no issues so far, before I got my Model Y I would see ALOT of Teslas with single riders and no sticker in there and have never see one pulled over in the 2 years I've had this commute.

 

[Mateo83]

50% off within certain hours. View attachment 791084
View attachment 791085

How does it work now days without attendants, are they accurately sending you the discounted bill?

 

[jwuwu]

How does it work now days without attendants, are they accurately sending you the discounted bill?

Everything is Fastrak now. If you don't have a fastrak tag or a tourist/visitor, they will send you a bill to pay based on the license plate. Just need to pay it online when you get the bill.

I haven't seen any discrepancies in the discount charges. Here are the recent charges for me, all bay bridge discounts during commute hours-

 

[tangible1]

I am curious if anyone driving a Tesla without carpool stickers has ever been pulled over and ticketed. All Teslas are clean air vehicles and all carpool stickers in CA will expire in 2025 regardless of when they were issued so theoretically they should not care. I know people who always drive in carpool lane solo with an ICE car and have never been pulled over.

Carpool stickers have a 3 calendar year life.
What's issued this year expires 1/1/2025.
Stickers issued prior to this year, expire on 1/1/2024 or before. Etc.

Are there people piling into the HOV lanes illegally?
All the time. Just a question of enforcement - if the CHP is alert and can respond, they might....or might not.

 

[jwuwu]

Carpool stickers have a 3 calendar year life.
What's issued this year expires 1/1/2025.
Stickers issued prior to this year, expire on 1/1/2024 or before. Etc.

Are there people piling into the HOV lanes illegally?
All the time. Just a question of enforcement - if the CHP is alert and can respond, they might....or might not.

It's hard to say or distinguish if people are driving in the HOV illegally, if you look at the CAV tag website-

Clean Air Vehicles - FasTrak

Some people, including me, actually are not breaking any rules when we drive with 3+ toggled on in some areas because each area express lane has their own set of rules. They suggest Flex and CAV to change the toggle to 2 or 3+ for free toll on the I-580 (part of my route) regardless of the number of passengers.

I can see from the CHP perspective why this would be hard to enforce with each area having their own set of express lane rules.

 

[leaftoy]

View attachment 791443


It's hard to say or distinguish if people are driving in the HOV illegally, if you look at the CAV tag website-

Clean Air Vehicles - FasTrak

Some people, including me, aren't actually not breaking any rules when we drive with 3+ toggled on in some areas because each area express lane has their own set of rules. They actually suggest to change the toggle to 3+ for free toll on the I-580 which is where I drive on usually and it says setting it to 3+ is fine.
View attachment 791445

I can see from the CHP perspective why this would be hard to enforce with each area having their own set of express lane rules.

Yes it is a mess since it is on a per express lane basis. Some express lanes you can travel with a non CAV flex and occupant count set to 3 to get 100% discount if you have a valid sticker. Other express lanes you need to have a CAV flex to get the 50% discount and always keep occupant count to 1. I know most people around here know their way around Google but how is a typical citizen supposed to keep track of all this? They really need to work to make things simpler.

I was trying to explain to someone who recently got an MYP the process of getting a CAV (first you wait for the plate and appt for the sticker. Once you get the sticker get the CAV flex. But before that you can get a regular flex for non discounted travel. And different express lanes have different rules on how the treat flex/CAV flex).

 

[SJC3]

great thread, so basically with all stickers expiring in Sept 2025...no need to try and avoid the dreaded Yellow sticker this year...2023 wont bring any new colors. Just need to suck it up that we'll have the taxi yellow on our Y

 

[tangible1]

great thread, so basically with all stickers expiring in Sept 2025...no need to try and avoid the dreaded Yellow sticker this year...2023 wont bring any new colors. Just need to suck it up that we'll have the taxi yellow on our Y

yeah it looks terrible but getting to use the HOV lanes in rush hour is ..... a rush.
I put the stickers on PPF backing and then applied the PPF. Removal in 3 years (actually 30 months) will not damage the paint.

 

[kelpcar]

In my experience, I've only seen ICE vehicles being pulled over a few times on the HOV lane, usually solo occupants driving in the express lane by Dublin merging right after from 560 to 680. Could be other violations though. I haven't seen an EV pulled over yet during express lane hours. I'm not sure how the CHP are enforcing or they even have a system tied in with fastrak to check besides a visual confirmation.

No, they didn't make me turn in the old one. They just sent me a flex with a cav sticker. Here's my tag for reference-View attachment 791193

More info on the CAV tag-

Clean Air Vehicles - FasTrak

I see they've shrunk in size - my flex is that size square, same as the prior non flex. But it seems like all they really need to do is send me a sticker? Would be nice if even that weren't necessary.

I don't cross too often - 2-3 times per month, mostly for golfing in Livermore. I did accidentally discover recently that the express lanes are more than just the usual carpool hours, got charged a whopping 50 cents.

 

[jwuwu]

I see they've shrunk in size - my flex is that size square, same as the prior non flex. But it seems like all they really need to do is send me a sticker? Would be nice if even that weren't necessary.

I don't cross too often - 2-3 times per month, mostly for golfing in Livermore. I did accidentally discover recently that the express lanes are more than just the usual carpool hours, got charged a whopping 50 cents.

I think your flex won't be able to recognize the specific CAV discounts so you do have to order the CAV flex tag.

Here's the link to order the CAV flex tag-

https://www.bayareafastrak.org/en/routers/cav_existing_user.html

 

[RoBoRaT]

To me the reason to not put the stickers on is they are ugly. California should come up with a smaller decal that could fit on the license plates or something similar. Since I rarely need to use the carpool lane, my thinking is to simply attach them with tape to the windows of my car when I am on a trip that I expect to need to use the carpool lane. Technically CHP could pull me over since they are not in the right location, but I think they would have higher priorities than that. Just like I notice many cars, including many Teslas, driving around without a front license plate.

 

[SJC3]

Any suggested magnetic sheet from Amazon? Some seem to have weak magnet reviews.

 

[RoBoRaT]

Any suggested magnetic sheet from Amazon? Some seem to have weak magnet reviews.

I used these, held up over daily run SoCal I-15 @ 75 mph.
Looks like sold out tho..

Cut-to-Size Bumper Sticker... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LYGOXU2?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

 

[TMYB-C1]

NY Long island HOV lanes- mandated clean pass stickers for Teslas starting Feb 2022. New stickers reqd.

These stickers are so ugly, but I did get mine in a weeks time which is warp speed for NYS DMV.

I am currently planning to keep them in the glove box until I figure out a removable solution.

 

[Tensorflow]

Tint 20% all the way around, 70% on the windshield, they will never see you alone in the car.

Isn’t this illegal?

 

[Wolfhausen]

Isn’t this illegal?

Yes, but so is driving alone in the carpool lane w/o government approval sticker. The way I see it, if I am taxed into oblivion to pay for "road construction, widening, and improvement", I'm going to use the lanes I paid for.

 

[tangible1]

These stickers are so ugly, but I did get mine in a weeks time which is warp speed for NYS DMV.

I am currently planning to keep them in the glove box until I figure out a removable solution.

Get some 3M paint protection film.
Put the decals on that.
Then stick the PPF with decals on the car.

Easy to remove when the decals expire.