What's this "waiting" you speak of? I stopped doing that as soon as I started SPLITTING LANES, ya pansy. Now cowboy up and cut to the front like a real man. [cheeky]

 

Hmm. Cutting in line like at seems a little dickish, even for me.

 

If you slip in like three or four cars back from the front, no one fusses.

I did notice that they'd changed the Fastrak stuff over there the other day. Enzo and I just looked at each kinda like "they made this one even MORE retarded, if that's possible."

All the other bridges seem so tame, traffic-free and friendly compared to the BB. That's like the major leagues for commuting and anything else is just AA play. [laugh]

 

The BB is just chaos theory put into practice. Honestly, I wonder how a human mind could've devised something that fiendishly complex.

And yeah, the RB is small potatoes, and there are never more than 4-5 cars in the carpool lane, but I still get irked because it is stupid.

 

Yeah, same problem... That's really a problem: It forces me to speed on the bridge to catch up with my chronos... ;D
No seriously, they are stupid.
at least they should write Carpool in huge and cash in small... but no... go figure...

 

I might be reading it wrong... but you can go through for free in any toll lane, too. You just have to stop first.
I too don't split at tolls, ramp meters, etc.

 

gotta love the public sector.

 

I might be reading it wrong... but you can go through for free in any toll lane, too. You just have to stop first.
I too don't split at tolls, ramp meters, etc.

When you say you don't split at tolls, how far back are you talking? You mean you get in line 3 miles down? That's a tough queue.

I usually split until about 5-10 cars back some ppl get p**ed off, others let you in (I like those people).

I could never work out how such a busy bridge like the BB could have cash tolls. In little ol' Australia (where i used to come from, OK Melbourne to be exact) we have only electronic tagging - no slowing down either.

 

When you say you don't split at tolls, how far back are you talking? You mean you get in line 3 miles down? That's a tough queue.

I usually split until about 5-10 cars back some ppl get p**ed off, others let you in (I like those people).

I could never work out how such a busy bridge like the BB could have cash tolls. In little ol' Australia (where i used to come from, OK Melbourne to be exact) we have only electronic tagging - no slowing down either.

Yeah, that's a tough one. Once the lanes start flaring out for the plaza I don't split. Too many weird diverges and merges anyhow.
The new Benicia Bridge has open-road tolling, no slowing down.
As far as taking cash... it would really suck to drive from out of area and not be able to get across! For commuters or locals, yeah, I don't get it either. We have Fast Trak.

 

Well most of the time on the Richmond bridge there is not much of a backup, so it's not like you have to get in line way back to forever. The cool thing about the Richmond bridge is that dip in the middle. If there is no cop behind you a guy could totally open it up and not be seen except from the air. A person could say, get up to a buck 40 or more at night for instance.

 

By the way, don't get why some people don't use Fasttrack.... I mean, it's free, right, so why?

 

I take the BB every day to and from work and there are two things that drive me insaine:

1 - I hate how the lanes just end after the lights with no signage. The first few times I came through I almost ran into a few cars after the lanes ended abruptly.

2 - I FU@KING hate how people brake before they get into the tunnel. There is no reason to slow down, but they always slow down right before they go though.

 

By the way, don't get why some people don't use Fasttrack.... I mean, it's free, right, so why?

Well...it's "sort of" free. When I first signed up for Fastrak, I noticed that I was automatically billed $40 before I ever went through a toll. Whenever my balance fell below $25 or so, they billed me $40 again. It seems to me that we're basically loaning them the use of our money before we've had a chance to spend it. Add that up for thousands and thousands of commuters and it appears that someone's got themselves a large and an indefinite, interest-free loan. ...so, there definitely IS a catch. The convenience is well worth it in my opinion, and I'd be willing to pay a higher toll or a small fee for it, but there's no need to pre-pay. That's very sneaky, and sneakiness from (what I think is) a public enterprise pisses The 'Belle off.

 

Well...it's "sort of" free. When I first signed up for Fastrak, I noticed that I was automatically billed $40 before I ever went through a toll. Whenever my balance fell below $25 or so, they billed me $40 again. It seems to me that we're basically loaning them the use of our money before we've had a chance to spend it. Add that up for thousands and thousands of commuters and it appears that someone's got themselves a large and an indefinite, interest-free loan. ...so, there definitely IS a catch. The convenience is well worth it in my opinion, and I'd be willing to pay a higher toll or a small fee for it, but there's no need to pre-pay. That's very sneaky, and sneakiness from (what I think is) a public enterprise pisses The 'Belle off.

Well the prepay thing is true, but after you go through 40 times (during non commute hours) you break even with the dollar discount Vs. paying full price in the cash only lane. I think for instance its still $4.00 Fas track or $5.00 Cash on the GGB. They may have changed it, but thats the way it used to be, and as far as I know still is.

 

Pretty sure that discount ended a long time ago. Not sure about the GG. I don't carry the transponder with me on the bike, and I don't take the car over the GG. I don't think that the camera can read my plate. [cheeky]

 

GG was the only one for that. The other ones have done it but only for a month or two when tolls increase. Four bucks is four bucks.

 

I went over the GG on the way to Moto GP with Fas Track in the inside pocket of my jacket. It didn't read so they took a picture of my plate and sent the photo to me. I couldn't see anything on my plate from the photos but it was definitely me, and they came up with the right licence plate numbers as well as my address. I guess they figure it out somehow. ( I got the fastrack issue sorted out with them and only owed 4 dollars)

 

Who was it here that tried to beat the camera by wheeling through the toll booth.. that was pretty baller.

He still go caught and ticketed. But he got a nice picture of him doing a wheelie through the toll booth.

 

I might be reading it wrong... but you can go through for free in any toll lane, too. You just have to stop first.
I too don't split at tolls, ramp meters, etc.

That's true on the GGB and BB, but not Richmond. Why, I have no idea.

I got in the wrong lane one time and had to pay. It is truly moronic.

The good news is I was able to find the email of a guy at the RB. Here's the exchange:

Rod McMillan <RMcMillan@mtc.ca.gov> Wed, Sep 12, 2007 at 7:51 AM
To: Michael Moore <mmoore@pureinfodesign.com>
Michael Morre:

The Bay Area Toll Authority along with Caltrans are currently reviewing the carpool arrangement at the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge. You can reply to this email with your suggestions and we can include those in our review. Thanks.

Rod McMillan

>>> "Michael Moore" <mmoore@pureinfodesign.com> 9/11/2007 9:36 PM >>>

Michael Moore <mmoore@pureinfodesign.com> Wed, Sep 12, 2007 at 8:23 AM
To: Rod McMillan <RMcMillan@mtc.ca.gov>
Thanks for the quick reply!

My suggestion has to do with the carpool lane. Currently there is only one lane in which carpools or motorcycles can use during commute hours, unlike other bridges where any manned booth can be used. Also, the carpool lane is 'centered' so much of the non-carpool traffic bunches up there meaning that carpool users have to wait extra time. If the goal is to encourage HOV use, I'd suggest either moving the carpool lane to the right, or making any lane available to carpoolers.

Thanks for your attention,
Michael Moore

 

That's true on the GGB and BB, but not Richmond. Why, I have no idea.

I got in the wrong lane one time and had to pay. It is truly moronic.

The good news is I was able to find the email of a guy at the RB. Here's the exchange:

So what are they going to do? Nothing? It seems like there was a carpool lane all the way over on the right. Did that get moved?

 

That's true on the GGB and BB, but not Richmond. Why, I have no idea.

I got in the wrong lane one time and had to pay. It is truly moronic.

The good news is I was able to find the email of a guy at the RB. Here's the exchange:

<snip>

Dude...this is supposed to be a pointless rant thread, not a get-off-yer-keister-and-do-something-productive-with-your-rage thread. You're just no fun. :

Hope it works out. [thumbsup]

 

So what are they going to do? Nothing? It seems like there was a carpool lane all the way over on the right. Did that get moved?

Yep, they did a bunch of work to move the FasTrak lanes from the far right to the left. But they left the one carpool lane as is. Except they put a sign with a big CASH with a tiny carpool below.

 

New: "Allowing carpools to use an additional lane at the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge. Carpools are now restricted to lane 3 but will also be permitted to use lane 6 beginning Oct. 29"

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/10/15/BAT4SQB8H.DTL&feed=rss.bayarea

 

New: "Allowing carpools to use an additional lane at the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge. Carpools are now restricted to lane 3 but will also be permitted to use lane 6 beginning Oct. 29"

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/10/15/BAT4SQB8H.DTL&feed=rss.bayarea

Wow, thanks for the update - I've been out of town and would've missed it!

 

Having now 2 carpool/cash lanes didn't change a thing: people continue to go only into those two ones!
There's a thing I don't get: even cars with only one person go to the carpool/cash lane... even if the carpool/cash lane is full... Even if the other cash only lanes are empty....
Are people stupid or they just do that to p!ssed me off?

Seriously...