Question/rant: Carpool Lanes

[peanut]

I commute daily along the I-15 in the San Diego area, the majority of the time on a motorcycle. On days that I ride, I utilize the carpool lane as I am entitled to do. Every time I utilize the carpool lane, I witness at least as many, if not more, single-passenger vehicles as I do carpools (excluding carpool lane-authorized vehicles such as some hybrids). From what I can tell, very few (read: practically none) of these vehicles have any type of One-Pass or EZ-Pass device installed on their winshields to exact the tolls listed on the electronic signs near carpool lane entry points. Are the majority of these people improperly utilizing the carpool lane based on the extremely slim odds they will be caught, or is there some other system in place to track and assess fees to utilize the carpool lane that I simply don't know about?

I realize there are a lot of higher-priority items for LEOs out there, but at $401 minimum per violation, it would seem that just one officer working the carpool lane a few hours each day could damn near solve some city/county/state budget problems.

[Swatguy10_15]

Howdy Peanut, the road dogs do work the car pool lanes,youre just not seeing it.But they are As far as other means,have heard cameras and stuff been never been down south to see how they operate vrs. up here.. In sac area its all by observation (motor or patrol) Dont let it get to ya too much..As all of us know there is no shortage of california drivers who think theyre above the all else and dont have to abide by the rules like the rest of us mere mortals !

[lairdb]

[...]or is there some other system in place to track and assess fees to utilize the carpool lane that I simply don't know about?

Not entirely sure they're working on the I-15 lanes, but the other FasTrak operations in CA capture a license plate photo and (if a properly enrolled car) just bill the FasTrak account. Some operators don't even bother carrying the transponder, or switching it from the routine car to the occasional car, knowing that the billing will occur correctly.