(The legislation was modeled after the I-15 Express Lanes in San Diego, where carpoolers don't need a transponder).
We talked to an attorney in our Legal division about it, and he said it's pretty clear that we can't require carpoolers to carry a transponder on these facilities, as it restricts access. Our Bay Area district (District 4) team caught onto this when their MPO, MTC, started talking about requiring carpoolers to carry a transponder on their planned Express Lanes. If you follow the chain of enabling legislation for these HOT lanes, there is a requirement that HOVs have unrestricted access to the lanes at all times when they are operating as HOT lanes. Interestingly, the requirement that all users carry a transponder appears to violate state law. The concern is that this hurts the casual carpooler, because it requires opening up an account, and paying a $3/month maintenance fee (the fee is not in effect yet, but it will take effect when the companion Express Lanes on I-10 open up next spring). Apparently the biggest controversy is related to the requirement that all users, including HOV, must carry a transponder. I spoke with the acting deputy for traffic operations in District 7 this week and he told me that the majority of the complaints are being e-mailed directly to the Caltrans director, who is sending them back to the district for response. I did receive several calls from members of the public about the project in the last couple of weeks. It's been a week now, and I haven't received any phone calls about this project since it opened, much to my surprise. Maybe because that's due to the scarcity of roadgeeks here on the west coast. I'm a little surprised that this topic isn't generating as much conversation as the posts about the new 495 Express Lanes. They wanted to open on a Saturday of a 3-day weekend in order to make sure that all the bugs were worked out before the regular commute started, but they didn't pay attention to the football schedule, and by the time they realized there was a game that day, it was too late to change the opening date (would have required Metro board action).
I also heard that there is a USC game at the Coliseum on the 10th, so the tolling system on I-110 will get its first workout on its first day. These projects in Los Angeles will have their own challenges, primarily with the requirement that all users must now carry FasTrak, including carpoolers. They're two totally different markets, and the cities and residents along I-405 weren't going for the concept, for a variety of reasons. The proposal was based on the premise that the 91 Express Lanes are considered very successful, and since that project has such a high level of support, they apparently thought that support would carry over to the 405 corridor. I found it very interesting that OCTA's proposal to put HOT lanes in on I-405 was completely shot down by its board.
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