by Craig Wiesner – San Mateo Daily Journal – March 18, 2024
Peter Skinner takes public transportation to and from work most days, which made me smile to learn as I asked a bunch of questions about the Highway 101 Express lanes in San Mateo County. Skinner is the Executive Officer of the Transportation Authority. He, along with Jessica Manzi, Randol White, and Lacy Vong recently shared a bunch of information with me about those lanes which have been operating for around a year now.
I decided to write about this after sitting in slow traffic watching cars with, as far as I could see, one driver with no other passengers going past the checkpoints flashing “3,” meaning the driver had a Fastrak Flex set to report three people in the car. That means no toll, free passage. Enforcement is the toughest issue with these lanes. Privacy laws prohibit the cameras from looking inside the cars to more easily catch cheaters but CHP, contracted to enforce the lanes, still cited 400 folks in one quarter, satisfying my need for schadenfreude. You can also get charged a toll or cited by mail if you drive past a sensor and don’t have your Flex out. Fail to pay after two warnings and your annual vehicle registration may be frozen. Despite my suspicion of rampant cheating, it was enlightening to learn that over 60% of the vehicles using the express lanes are paying tolls according to one quarterly report. Revenue has been a bit higher than expected, with $7 million revenue and operations costing around $2 million. Of course it will take a very long time to recoup the $100 million dollars raised for the project.
Asked about how they measure “success,” the biggest metric was keeping traffic moving at 45 mph or higher in those lanes as much of the time as possible. While there are a few spots in each direction that sometimes fall below that briefly during peak times of day, overall the lanes are performing well above that. If you wondered why the toll seems exorbitant at times, it is precisely because they want to discourage vehicles that aren’t HOV from clogging the lanes and taking them below that (federally mandated) 45 mph goal. Yes, some folks call these “Lexus Lanes,” but the average toll, according to the quarterly report, was $3.57 southbound and $2.74 northbound, relatively affordable if you are late for a doctor’s appointment.
While some think of these express lanes as “elitist,” one big benefit of having them is the new EPX bus line that runs between East Palo Alto and San Bruno, with rush hour stops in San Francisco, costing just $2.25 ($2.05 with Clipper and half price for seniors/disabled). Connecting with major transit hubs, state of the art all electric vehicles traveling quickly along those express lanes offer a great transportation option for people who live and work up and down the peninsula. Another gift from tolls on these express lanes is the Community Transportation Benefits Program, which gives $100 Clipper cards (one per year) or a one-time $100 toll credit on a Fastrak Flex for low-income San Mateo County residents. Thousands of people have received these benefits since the program was launched. Other revenue is used to pay off the debt and to operate the toll lanes.
What’s my opinion about these lanes? After speaking with Peter Skinner and team I’m less skeptical than I was. I see some benefits. Rush hour congestion does feel heavier, though, than it did pre-Covid and I get annoyed as solo drivers whiz by me on our way home. I know with two of us in the car we could pay half the toll and we did that once when we were late for a speaking engagement. When I posted on NextDoor that I was going to do this interview I got over 120 comments, questions and complaints. Overall the commenters feel like the lanes are unfair, too expensive, cause more congestion, are too narrow, and they don’t want to see the lanes extended further past 380, which transportation officials are considering doing. The most repeated complaint was about potholes. The team I interviewed agreed that there are a lot of them, sharing that over the next few years the entire stretch of 101, in both directions, is slated for complete repaving which should result in less problems afterwards. For now, lots of temporary patching to do!
I was impressed with the comprehensive information available at 101expresslanes.org where many NextDoor questions are answered in FAQs and detailed quarterly reports (click DOCUMENTS). There’s also sign-up info for the Benefits Program. Check out the actual data and make your voice heard about the current lanes and future possible extension. And don’t let me catch you cheating when I do my CHP ride-along!