A HOT lane is a restricted High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lane that charges a toll for non-HOV users. If you and all your passengers add up to less than 3 people you can’t use the HOT lane unless you have a Good To Go! Pass (or one of my cunning fakes).
But that’s not all: you can only enter the HOT lane at certain places along the route so the overhead antenna can read your Good To Go! Pass. They use a double white line with bumps to divide the traffic and boy do I hope you have a lot of money if you get caught driving across those lines.
The State Patrol is gearing up for this. They’ll have unmarked radar cars on overpasses and each violator they spot will be run down and ticketed. Read the signs. They will clearly point out what’s illegal and what’s OK.
The overpass spy car will be looking for the highly visible Good To Go! Pass (my fake will work) or enough bodies to qualify as a car pool. That means if you and the spouse head off to the submarine races in Snohomish you’ll need to pick up that panhandler at the on-ramp to make three. Take an air freshener.
In other distractions, Mayor Mike (Seattle) is taking a stab at delaying the SR-520 bridge replacement by about ten years. Microsoft took out an ad in the Seattle Times (it’s still in business) that exhorted everyone to please get on with building the new bridge right away please! It’s been in work for about 14 years and was declared a dire emergency in 2000. But not one brick has been cast.
Everyone this side of the Pecos has chimed in with opinions and suggestions. After a very long and arduous process the design is done and funding is arranged. The existing bridge will sink in the next moderate earthquake or bad windstorm.
But Mayor Mike thinks we need to go back and design it over again. He wants light rail tracks on it even though there are no plans for connecting light rail at either end. He says in 20 to 25 years when it’s finally built there could be.
In response to the Microsoft ad Mayor Mike accused THEM of “delaying” the project. Now I know why I don’t run for political office – I actually think about things.
Where was I? Oh yeah bikes and trains on the HOT Lanes. Or something like that.
We have HOT Lanes now on the Valley Freeway. Which kind of cuts into the meaning of “Freeway.” There are reader boards at each legal entry point that tell you how much it will cost to use that lane. Once the overhead antenna reads your Good To Go! Pass you will get a bill.
Actually it’s a little simpler after a complex startup. First you have to buy the thing. Really, they don’t give them away. Maybe that’s because it costs so much to paint all those bumpy double white lines. Mine will cost you more but in the long run you save money on tolls.
Second you have to prepay your account. You can give them a credit card number (I suggest someone you don’t like), debit card, or an auto-draft account. That means each time your prepaid account drops below $8 they go in and slurp more money out of your bank.
Third you can have up to six vehicles draining the same prepaid account. Give transponders as party favors and then draw straws to see which guests have to feed the prepaid accounts. Tell them odds of getting a free pass are six to one in their favor. Invite gullible guests.
Once you have the little goody in your hand you’ll need to peel the backing and stick it to your windshield. You’ll also need a shield (costs extra) if you occasionally carry a load such as the night you’re the designated driver.
Finally; once you’ve made all those decisions, paid good money for the pass and the prepaid account, and stuck it on your windshield its easy from there on. That is unless your prepaid account runs dry.
Or you can just order one of my custom fake passes and scotch tape it to the windshield and it’ll fool those overpass people counters. Or maybe the State Patrol reads blogs. Then I might be in trouble.
Al
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