Carpool Lane

expatincalifornia — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 05:16:06 +0000

In order to encourage people to share their car, Authorities implemented the carpool lane. The rule is simple: if you are 2 people or more, you can use the carpool lane (left hand side lane) during the comuting hours (5am – 9am) and (3pm – 7pm). One exception to that rule is if you drive an hybrid car. To take benefit of that exception, do the following:

Purchase a Honda Insight, Honda Civic Hybrid or Toyota Prius. These are the only hybrid vehicles currently permitted in California.
Fill out DMV REG 1000 form to apply for an HOV lane sticker for your hybrid. Your vehicle must have valid license plates before applying.
Include the $8 fee.
If you live in the Bay Area, you must also have a Fastrak transponder for bridge crossings to qualify for this sticker. See How to Register With Fastrack for more information. You will need a receipt from Fastrak to submit along with your DMV REG1000 form. If you have a Fastrak already, you must exchange it for a Hybrid Fastrak prior to submitting to DMV.
Place the stickers on your car in the designated places.
Save time by driving in the diamond carpool lanes and diamond freeway entrance lanes.

Tip: DMV will issue a limited number of these stickers, so you might want to get yours right away. Also consider driving electric or compressed natural gas vehicles, which have fewer emissions than hybrids and also qualify for the HOV lane.

National Parks Visit

expatincalifornia — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 05:10:55 +0000

For those who love nature and would like to visit some national parks (Yosemite, Sequoia and Kings Canyon, Point Reyes, Channel Islands…), it is advised to buy the anual pass, for a $80 fee (available at any park entrance). This pass was released last January 2007 and gives you access to all national parks (400!) and federal parks (like Muir Woods) across the United States for a one year period. This pass is nominal (you write your name and the name of your partner) and gives free entrance for the entire car whatever the number of passengers.

Otherwise, each time you want to enter a park, you pay a fee per car valid for a couple of days (between $20 and $25 for national parks and less for federal parks). In other words, as soon as you visit 3 parks in a year, it is worthwile to subscribe to the anual pass.

Tip: In order to prepare your visits in the national parks, official web sites (National Park Service US departement) are gold mines. Go simply to your favorite search engine, type in the park’s name and check that the address starts with www.nps.gov/

Expat in California

Carpool Lane

National Parks Visit