HOV & Express Lanes

Transponders & Stickers

How to Save Money!

The insane traffic congestion we deal with in Southern California can sometimes be alleviated, by use of HOV Lanes and or Express Lanes.

But how to legally get in and out of them as well as use them can definitely be tricky.  Especially since the laws change from time to time.  Like they will later this year as well as at the beginning of next year.

We get the scoop from California Highway Patrol Motorcycle Officer Darren Wybenga in this iDriveSoCal Podcast.  Listen closely – you might not only save yourself a ticket but also learn how to use the express lanes for free!

***Transcript***

Recorded May 18, 2018 in Torrance, CA

Darren Wybenga: Currently, there's three different colored stickers which are applicable for low emission vehicles that have been designated to use the HOV lane or the express lane. In the express lanes, every vehicle is required to have a transponder. You could, in theory, have a free trip if you had your transponder set properly, it would save you money.

Tom Smith: Welcome to iDriveSoCal, the podcast all about mobility from the automotive capital of the United States, Southern California. Tom Smith here, and today I am out at the south LA office of the California Highway Patrol yet again with our friend, motorcycle officer Darren Wybenga, California Highway Patrolman, thank you for joining us again.

Darren Wybenga: My pleasure.

Tom Smith: Thank you for doing what you do keeping us safe out there on the highways.

Darren Wybenga: You're very welcome.

Tom Smith: Today's topic is going to be what I think confuses a lot of people, definitely it's confused me, and that is the express lane, HOV lane, getting in and out of them, the transponders, the stickers and what not. Officer Wybenga is going to give us the lay of the land on all this. Now Officer Wybenga, the HOV lanes have been around for a long time, right?

Darren Wybenga: Probably about 20 years.

Tom Smith: Okay, and then the express lanes are relatively new.

Darren Wybenga: Yes, about five years.

Tom Smith: About five years, okay. Basically what happened was, it's the 110 and the 10, right?

Darren Wybenga: Correct.

Tom Smith: In areas of the 110 and the 10 in LA County, the, what was HOV lane became express lane.

Darren Wybenga: Correct.

Tom Smith: And that was to govern the traffic in those lanes as well as raise revenue, generally speaking.

Darren Wybenga: Generally speaking, and to give folks another option if they're willing to pay for it to hopefully expedite their travels.

Tom Smith: Okay. Now the first thing to cover is getting in and out of the HOV and express lanes. I think I'm not alone in that my experience driving ... Say I'm in the HOV or express lane, I'm driving, I see to my right there's a white line and then there's a double yellow, and that, to me, means I can cross and get out of the express/HOV lane that I'm in because it's the white. I can get out whenever I feel like but then people can't get in because of that double yellow. However, that's not the case is it?

Darren Wybenga: It is not. The only time you can enter or exit legally is where the lines turn to broken white, like the other lanes of traffic. You're no longer seeing solid lines. If there's two solid lines or four solid lines, if those lines are solid you can't cross in or out. Typically, they try to have an opening every two miles or so but there's no real guarantee.

Tom Smith: Does that change in Orange County, or San Bernardino County, or Riverside County?

Darren Wybenga: Those rules are the same everywhere.