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[DonTom]

Most diamond lanes have not yet been changed to toll lanes.  However, you will find them on some Bay Area freeways, like I-580, near Livermore, that have heavy commutes.

Thanks for the info. I will be passing through Livermore this Saturday, So I will then be able to see it for myself.

I will be headed to San Jose via Livermore from here.

And how long have the toll lanes been there?  It's been years since I was in that area.

I take it that motorcycles are still allowed free in the diamond lanes everywhere.

-Don-  Auburn, CA

[Richard230]

Most diamond lanes have not yet been changed to toll lanes.  However, you will find them on some Bay Area freeways, like I-580, near Livermore, that have heavy commutes.

Thanks for the info. I will be passing through Livermore this Saturday, So I will then be able to see it for myself.

I will be headed to San Jose via Livermore from here.

And how long have the toll lanes been there?  It's been years since I was in that area.

I take it that motorcycles are still allowed free in the diamond lanes everywhere.

-Don-  Auburn, CA

The toll lanes started appearing in the Bay Area a couple of years ago. They turned out to be a big money-maker for the Regional Transportation Authority bureaucracy, that they are rushing to build more.  The voters just approved a large gas tax and vehicle registration increase to repair highways and part of that money is going to convert HOV lanes to toll lanes.  In San Mateo County a 1% sales tax was approved (the third one since 2003) to fund road and transportation improvements. A good portion of those funds will be going to help the local bus company pay back BART for building a transit station in Millbrae and to also build an HOV/toll lane from Mountain View to I-380 in San Bruno.  Our gas taxes at work. 

Motorcycles are allowed to use all marked HOV lanes for free and at any time (just check the posted signs in the median island along the left of the HOV lanes for proof of this (watch out behind you for up and coming "fast movers" who think the HOV lanes are a race track).  However, if you come across an HOV toll lane, then you need a new Flex pass set to #3 to ride in that lane for free.  So when riding in an HOV lane that turns into a toll lane and you don't have a pass, move over into the poor peoples' lanes, unless the toll lane's big sign says that the toll is free that day.

[caza]

Again, you don't need to have the fastrak flex on the carpool lane closer to sunol. The lane right after Walnut Creek is going to need a flex, but the sunol one doesn't require it.

Be careful in these lanes. Like Richard said, there are fast drivers here. The "normal" speed for these lanes is often 80+mph and there are typically people moving at 90+mph weaving their way through.

Also be aware that if you're splitting between 1 and 2 on 680 there is a large section of it with a huge crack right on the lane divider. The mix of that and 680 drivers not being particularly motorcycle friendly can make splitting tricky. In general 680 is not a very well paved highway and the road condition varies a lot.

My commute typically takes me on 24 then over the bay bridge and on 680 to san jose and it's a night and day difference, 24 is much friendlier.

[kcfoxie]

You're the "good guy" saving the planet with your ev and they're a "bad person" because they have their truck.

This environmental narrative has to die in order for the movement to take hold. We need to take a "it makes you resilient and able to stand alone" route, up and down the board. They're cheaper (long term, anyone whose dropped $1k at 80-100k miles on a timing belt or $5k for a used engine because it snapped is an easy sale), faster (bring it, Suzuki squid), and better in driving dynamics. Of all the things I talk about when discussing my fleet of 4 EVs (2 person household), air pollution is never mentioned because it turns most people off (and I'm tired of explaining how lithium desalination is less harmful than strip mining cat litter or copper).

I'm not buying gas, I don't deal with oil changes or a clutch (in case of the moto), and the solar array on the roof sticks the finger to the electric company. NO motorized vehicle is actually good for the environment. Nothing in our modern life is, really (at least in the US).

[caza]

kcfoxie I totally agree, the environmental narrative isn't helpful, it creates conflict where there doesn't need to be any.

Selling the EV lifestyle on cost and convenience is much more effective long term, though with the current high entry prices the cost part takes a lot of convincing.

I brought it up in my post because it's how a lot of people think, not because I think it myself.

[DonTom]

Be careful in these lanes. Like Richard said, there are fast drivers here. The "normal" speed for these lanes is often 80+mph and there are typically people moving at 90+mph weaving their way through.

Are speed limit laws enforced in these lanes?

Anyway, I saw the toll lanes near Tracy last week. First time I have seen such. I have not been in that area for years.

-Don-  Reno, NV

[Richard230]

Be careful in these lanes. Like Richard said, there are fast drivers here. The "normal" speed for these lanes is often 80+mph and there are typically people moving at 90+mph weaving their way through.

Are speed limit laws enforced in these lanes?

Anyway, I saw the toll lanes near Tracy last week. First time I have seen such. I have not been in that area for years.

-Don-  Reno, NV

Yes, speed limits are enforced in the toll lanes.  However, there are a lot more speeders than there are cops to pull them over.

[DonTom]

Now to get back on subject . . .

I recently discovered some of the  reasons why there are so many EV haters by the ICEers.

One reason is that roads are funded by gasoline tax and us in EVs do not contribute to fixing the roads regardless of the weight of our EVs and etc. We do not pay our fair share towards the roads.

Another is the rebates we often get. That is taking away money from those who own ICE vehicles and giving it to us EV owners.

Another is that we may have access to HOV lanes as a single driver, yet we pay less for the roads than others who cannot get such access.

So what are some of the other reasons for hating us EV owners?

And should anything be done about it?

-Don-  Auburn, CA

[Richard230]

Don, California, and I believe Oregon and Washington, have adopted fees meant to recoup road maintenance costs from EV owners.  In California, starting this year, EV owners will be paying an additional flat $100 each year on top of their usual expensive vehicle registration fee each year.  Needless to say I am not happy about that as someone who owns a low-mileage electric motorcycle ends up paying the same fee per year as someone who owns a Tesla and drives 10 or 20 times the mileage each year as I do.  Plus, their vehicle weighs about 15 times the weight of my Zero.

Apparently, Zero did not try to convince our legislators to give electric motorcycles a break because there are so few of us, our impact on public roads is pretty much zero, here are so few of us using the highways - and we don't make noise while riding through their neighborhoods.  Unfortunately, that is how fees work when it comes to motorcycles.  As an obvious example we tend to pay the same fees as cars and light trucks when crossing toll bridges.  And so it goes in the halls of government. 

[NEW2elec]

Richard Ga has you beat.  I get to pay $213 for each of my Zeros and I called and complained to my state senator who agreed it shouldn't be the same for motorcycles as cars but I guess since I didn't say I'd like to give a donation he never did do anything.
I did the math and if it had been a gas bike I would have paid $32 in GA gas tax based on my mileage.
So WTF is wrong with government? 

[Richard230]

Richard Ga has you beat.  I get to pay $213 for each of my Zeros and I called and complained to my state senator who agreed it shouldn't be the same for motorcycles as cars but I guess since I didn't say I'd like to give a donation he never did do anything.
I did the math and if it had been a gas bike I would have paid $32 in GA gas tax based on my mileage.
So WTF is wrong with government? 

What is wrong?  Not enough money to buy the best government.   

[DonTom]

Don, California, and I believe Oregon and Washington, have adopted fees meant to recoup road maintenance costs from EV owners.  In California, starting this year, EV owners will be paying an additional flat $100 each year on top of their usual expensive vehicle registration fee each year.  Needless to say I am not happy about that as someone who owns a low-mileage electric motorcycle ends up paying the same fee per year as someone who owns a Tesla and drives 10 or 20 times the mileage each year as I do.  Plus, their vehicle weighs about 15 times the weight of my Zero.

NV has a bill in now to do the same, so I guess that will be the norm across the country as EVs get more popular.

Yeah, ICE motorcycles use less gas than ICE cars, but also weight a lot less. IMO, likewise, the EV tax should be less on motorcycles than on heavier vehicles.

Other than that, I have no real problem with the road tax on EVs. The money to repair roads must come from somewhere, espcally when most vehicles on the road could be EVs in the future.

-Don-  Auburn, CA

[NEW2elec]

We're a bit off topic for this thread but it's interesting so I'm rolling with it.
I had been thinking of some other factors tied into the gas tax.  Besides the road wear and tear for ICE cars there is the extra wear from the big super heavy rigs that bring the gas to the station.  I see parts of the road like stop lights and signs where cars sit and drip oil and other fluids and it brakes down the tar in the road resulting in more pot holes.
I wonder how long would a road last if all cars were EV with no fluids to drip.
Money saved.

[quixotic]

We don't have to worry about backlash in Alberta, since most of our electricity is powered by dirty coal anyway.  So I tend to stress the fact that the bike is a blast to ride.  And apparently there's a Tesla in the province with a license plate that says "coalpwr"

[togo]

I was just in Your Fine Country, but at the other end, British Columbia, to pick up a Trail Tail.

No need to regale you with tales of high cold mountain passes, so cold they hit zero on the Old F Scale.

But what's on topic, your topic, quixotic, is power.

Rest areas and downtowns had 48A J1772 plugs and Chademo and CCS! 

Free! 

All branded BC Hydro and some Greenlots.  (I actually tried to sign in to greenlots, which I'd never actually used, to activate a station, only to find that the vehicle was already charging)

(By the way, shamefully to say that I actually used an enclosed vehicle for this trip, but it was like 2000 miles to be accomplished in 4 days, and the first six weeks of the year have been slow on carshare, so the of.net/RED3 tesla was available.)