End of HOV lane.Whats your commute plans ?

The officer was wrong on both counts. See Clean Air Stickers High Occupancy Vehicle HOV Lane Usage. I'm sure if you got a ticket for the above prior to 7/1/11, you could contest it, unless that section of highway has been designated to not allow solo carpool lane drivers w/the stickers. (I moved away from CA so I don't know if that's happened to any spots.)

You wouldn't be able to get white stickers for your 05 Prius.

 

Preorder Prius PHV. It qualifies for the new sticker. Alternative is to get a Leaf or Civic CNG. Both of them will get a white sticker. You can also get a motocycle. That doesn't need any sticker.

 

I have a 2005 Prius and I have been lucky enough to have been driving in the HOV lane with the yellow stickers since the car was new. Have you heard of any possibility of another extension?
Do we have any options other than purchasing a new car?
Thanks, Priuslovers.

 

1. Bicycle and walking
2. Light rail
3. High speed rail

 

Or... car pool... gasp!

The car uses even less gas when you you use it only half or third of the time.

 

Yep, thanks for the reply. I wish I had memorized the officer's name so I could have called his boss
In case he pulls me over again tomorrow, I printed the page from the DMV site above, and also the attached pdf which I found on chp.ca.gov
Should I call a lawyer, I wonder if I could sue the officer for harrasment or a traffic stop without reasonable cause?

 

Seeing as he didn't give you a ticket...I don't see what you could sue someone for...or why you would bother.

He got it wrong...I guess you never do anything wrong?

Sheesh...some people.

Anyways...I feel your pain. We can't use the HOV lanes here in MD, but you can in VA with a special tag (or you could). If it were me...I'd find some way to buy a car that qualifies for the white stickers.

If you talk about adding another 1.5 hours round trip to your commute each day...what is your time worth per hour? $20...which I would say is real low. $35 per day, 5 days a week...thats $700 a month. To me leasing a Leaf for $349 a month is a deal.

 

All you HOV yellow sticker CA drivers, what are we going to do?

Why don't people in Sac. monetize the stickers until more alternate vehicles are out in the market? Only vehicles availabe are CNG vehicles which are getting more expensive everyday. All the other new technology vehicles aren't out yet and won't have stickers issued per the dmv till January. I don't get it. With the state in the budget crisis, I don't know any yellow sticker owner in CA who wouldn't pay for it. The 7 month extension was to give us time to buy other vehicles. What other vehicles? Are they kidding? Buy an overpriced CNG vehicle with a range of 200 miles or a new electric that is at least $30k and aren't practical either.... Mass transit isn't convenient at all either. I have written my legistlator for where I live and no response. Worthless>>>>>
I hate this state..... I have a 50 mile each way commute and my sticker saves me 2 hours a day in time. I'm a single mother trying to work, pick my child up from daycare on time, etc. Not sure what I'm going to do. Every CNG car I look at is a piece of crap and sellers want 4-5k over high blue book. What a joke.

 

I agree that perhaps CA should try to monetize the stickers but with only 85K stickers, how much can they realistically demand and receive? It'd just be a drop in the bucket compared to CA's budget woes.

I still have the yellow stickers on my Prius (I moved away from CA in late 09) but I probably wouldn't have paid too much more to extend them as I tended to commute after the carpool lanes were open to all traffic anyway. As such, I took advantage of them very rarely.

Per Nissan LEAF Electric Car | Available Incentives, Nissan Leaf for CA folks you've got the $7500 Federal tax credit and a $5000 CA tax rebate, taking it down to barely over $20K before TTL. Only problem is, you will have range anxiety with your commute unless you can charge at work and you'll have to wait awhile for a Leaf.

I feel your pain about much of the Bay Area's mass transit. I lived in south San Jose and it was LOUSY and utterly useless for commuting to work unless I wanted to spend 2.5 hours on the bus and light rail, each way vs. a 25-30 min drive. I can bet for Gilroy, it's even worse.

 

Lots of reasons beside traffic not to live in the "granola state" (I like that!), but the one reason to live here that trumps them all is: it's where my wife and I both have jobs that pay well and that we couldn't match easily elsewhere. So I'll be stuck in the peon lanes till I retire, I guess. Is there a plug-in Prius in my future? Possibly... Or, just possibly, find a carpool partner.

Your commute sounds ideal!

 

Just wondering, how many occupants do you need to drive in the Ca HOV lanes without a sticker. Is it only 2 or is it more?

 

i made the choice to take a lesser job to not have to commute. now, i first made this decision 8 years ago. but then, had a slight mis-step, left my current position (partly due to a restructuring) in 2006, but ended up returning after 4 months of a daily commute that ran from 40 to 75 minutes one way.

problems here are traveling north, all traffic funnels thru I-5 between the Nisqually Wildlife Refuge, Nisqually Indian Reservation and Ft. Lewis Army Base. going around is MANY times farther. but one accident on that stretch of I-5 and that is a guaranteed slowdown of at least 20-30 minutes.

during that 4 months, there were a few dozen accidents making my commute time longer about 30-40% of the time.

so, i took the paycut went back and now my WEEKLY commute is 76.4 miles (yes,i have tracked it)... but that is only because we relocated from one side of town to the other but i happen to be in the middle. previously my weekly commute was 56.8 miles.

in the morning, it takes me about 16 minutes, the afternoon, 20-25 minutes. could be better, but i can live with it.

sometimes its hard to justify the paycut. i was lucky in that i had investments, assets, etc to ride it out but i am still constantly looking at other options for locations, jobs, etc to find a better balance. i am not saying i am happy with my situation. i think there is always room for improvement, but as transportation costs, escalate, the paycut does get smaller and smaller.

 

I don't know how feasable it is for somebody used to a Prius to switch to a Ford Transit Connect, but it is possible to get the basic, CNG ready one by ordering the CNG/LPG Engine Prep Package for $315. Here is the site for building one: Build and Price I'm not sure either how much it would cost to go the required final step and have the tank and gas lines installed. But this is a 4-cyl engine, so maybe the mpg wouldn't be terrible, but I don't really know. The range of course is limited too, so anybody thinking about this would have to check for the availability in their area. You can possibly get your own "Phil" and refill at home too.

 

Depends on which highway. Here in the South Bay Area, you need 2 people in the car to qualify. In the North and East Bay, some roads (mostly, I think, the ones that feed the bridges) you need 3 people in the car.

I don't know about SoCal, other than that they can pay to be in some of the "fast" lanes.

 

Personally... I don't get in the HOV lanes unless the car has more than just me in it.

I think the state selling access to the lane was criminal.