Let’s take a look at a major difference between Virginia and California, shall we?
In Virginia, hybrid cars have been allowed in carpool lanes for years. Nothing special was required — after all, a Prius looks like a Prius and an Escape looks like an Escape. Later, when other cars became hybrids, the rule changed: cars with “Clean Fuel” license plates were admitted. It was simple to order the CF plates.
In California, they just opened carpool lanes to hybrids, but there are so many strings attached it makes it onerous. First, you must get a FasTrak transponder for paying tolls — even though you may never use a toll road. (Plus, I tried to get one today but their website is not working.) Then, you must purchase special stickers to put on the car — there are two, both ugly and orange, and they must be placed on the body of the car on the back and on the side. (I’m not willing to sacrifice the paint job on my car for Cailfornia’s whims.)
Oh, and I went to the DMV site to change my address — which I can’t do online. Virginia has had this capability for years, you can even renew your license online. I mean, this is Silicon Valley, right? Tech world? C’mon.
Anyway, they have PDFs for download that you must print and mail in. Except — they have copy-protected all the PDFs on the site, so you can’t save them to your hard drive to print them later. A change of address form? They’re worried about intellectual property? On a form generated by a public agency, the copyright owned by the people?
Oh, and — when I was finally able to get into the FasTrak site, I learned that low emission vehicles with the aforementioned sticker are not required to pay tolls. So, in order to get the sticker you need a FasTrak, and once you get the sticker, you’ll never need the FasTrak. Brilliant.
