I had occasion to travel Rt 167 yesterday and woo boy do I have HOT lane questions and comments!
1. I never saw even ONE car in the HOT lane... not one.
2. There are great big signs that say it is ILLEGAL to cross the double white line between the HOT lane and the cold ones. OK. BUT... if you've paid your fee and need to get off because you are unfamiliar with the area or simply are not paying attention that means you can not get out of that lane until the broken line and will probably/most likely slow down the entire HOT lane.... AND it means that you have to wiat to get into the HOT lane...which sort of defeats the purpose. Screwy.
3. There are no toll booths. I was told by by my companion that drivers registered/and paid online and got a barcode sticker for their car which was read by an overhead camera. I don't know it that's true or not. BUT, another great big sign says the HOT lane can also be used by buses, motorcycles and 'carpools' of 2 or more. SO, if you have to have a barcode which is read by a camera... what happens when a 'carpool' of 2 or more with no sticker passes under the camera? Do they send the poor sucker a ticket? How does he prove he had 2 or more? What if one passenger is a not readily visible infant in a rear facing carseat?
4. We hadn't planned on driving 167 yesterday (and with the questions about carpools ignored the HOT lane), so what about the folks like us that can't/don't pre-register to pay?
5. How much did this unused yesterday afternoon "improvement" cost us?
Posted by RagnarDanneskold at May 21, 2008 11:30 AM | Email ThisI understand why they did it - it's to keep people in the lane so that the cameras can check for the bar code.
Also, if they have a camera at every dashed white line, they will know if you jumped out early by comparing the cars that entered the lane vs. those that exited the lane. That right there should net a windfall of extra traffic ticket revenue.
Another issue with the bar code is that you don't want that displayed if you have another person in the car, because you're going to get billed for using the lane if the camera catches the bar code as you drive by. So you have to cover it up in some way if you have another driver in the car.
What a dumb system!
1. I drove next to it the other day from Renton to 212th in Kent, and the toll was $3.00. All lanes of I167 were going 55 mph so why was the toll $3.00 (GREED). But I did see carpoolers in the lane and a few single drivers who I suppose were paying $3.00 to go the same speed I was going for free. Must have been Liberals.
2. I love that one, You pay $3.00 to get into the lane but can't get out without paying a $150 Ticket fine. DOT Liberal Logic
3. DUH! the only answer for this one is it was designed by a DOT liberal Engineer
4. You're just screwed by Liberals
5. 18 Million Dollars, which would have brought in $2450 a day alone in interest if you had have left it in the bank, but spent on this project it brings in a whopping $500 a day! A liberal cost justification was performed on this.
Posted by: GS on May 21, 2008 05:35 PMAs for the price, if they were truly greedy, they should lower the price since that would improve revenue. Instead they are just stupid and losing lots of revenue.
Posted by: Lysander on May 22, 2008 04:17 PMThis was a Leftist dream project. A huge success by their standards. And remember these are the same folks that think Castro is a great guy and Che, a hero. Success is failure!
Posted by: Jeff B. on May 24, 2008 10:54 PMHas Austin Powers started working for the DOT?
Posted by: GS on May 25, 2008 09:04 PM