I-15 FasTrak Express Lanes

My husband has epilepsy but could still drive however we have chosen to commute together with myself as the driver to avoid risk.
I have often avoided the Fastrak lanes by mistakingly thinking they were only for people with transponders that pay.
I think better signage or PR informing HOV carpools, AKA vehicles with more than one person onboard, that they may enjoy the lanes without a transponder or payment could help to further unclog the crowded freeways better.
I do however enjoy the stress free Fastrak lanes with very few riders as is. So, maybe this knowledge is better kept quiet.

I have successfully used the I-​15 FasTrak Express Lanes and transponder for a number of years; most recently been using it successfully in South County too. However with infrequent use I don’t want to get charged the monthly fee of $ 4.50. Over the years always found the employees on the phone were helpful and courteous. The same outstanding service over the years has occurred when I needed to go into their office which used to be located along the I-​15.
Now that I would like to terminate the service and return the Transponder the requirement is to mail it back to them with the additional cost of registered mail and fees for its size and weight and «hope» that the Transponder arrives back to their offices timely in the mail.
Unfortunately, now their one and only location in San Diego for returning a Transponder is located about 1 mile from the US Border crossing in Otay Mesa to the East of Brown Field. Not convenient and not accessible — and very disappointing way to end the I-​15 Express Lanes FasTrak experience!
I’ll give my complete rating after I find the location (and hopefully don’t make a wrong turn and end up in Mexico).

Not sure Fastrack is worth it. The lanes are HOV only when you really need them because they effectively sell excess capacity of what are otherwise car pool lanes. And when you really need them, they’re full. Part of the reason they’re full is because they’re full of violators. All you have to do is paste a white box on your window so CHP thinks you have a Fastrack device and won’t stop you if you’re alone. On average traffic days, the lanes will save you maybe 5 – 8 minutes tops, so the toll they charge adds up to approximately $ 1 per minute you save, it’s highly questionable if that is a worthwhile ROI. Three stars because on a few occasions they have shaved more than 15 minutes off my commute. Start providing a real service by keeping the lanes open to true car pooler and paying customers, use the cameras to identify violators for crying out loud, all the other Fastrack services do, and maybe then the lanes will work.

What’s the point? Seemed like a good idea to me at first, I’ll pay to save some time and it does help in the morning to avoid sitting in a long line of vehicles to get past the metered ramp at Ted Williams going south. When I need it most though is when I’m on my way home, heading north just past Tierrasanta and the traffic is moving at 5 or 10 mph, I finally get to the FasTrak entrance only to find HOV ONLY! So I crawl the rest of the way home watching the vehicles in the FasTrak lanes passing me by going at least 65mph with plenty of room in those lanes. I also watch all the single occupancy vehicles that ignore the HOV ONLY sign because they know the CHP is rarely seen in those lanes! Like I said… what’s the point?

Most worthless organization/​company in San Diego county, horrible customer service, all they do is steal money from people in the form on «maintenance fees» etc. Stay away, use Bay Area Fastrak instead, they don’t charge ridiculous fees for nothing and they actually employee customer services reps that aren’t rude theifs.

A mandatory $ 4.50 monthly «Account Maintenance Fee» whether I use my transponder or not!!!
WTF FasTrac??? Where exactly does this money go???
LAME!!!

Three stars because to some degree the system is functional. But FasTrak is the ultimate fair weather friend. Did you sign up so you could use FasTrak when the freeway WASN’T crowded? Noooooooo. So just when you really need FasTrak to avoid the parking lot looming ahead, the electronic pricing signs posted at gateways to the HOV lanes will say «HOV Only». What this means is that if you paid for a transponder, you’re the second class citizen who’s forbidden entry when the freeway is actually jammed. At first I didn’t notice these «HOV Only» warnings, and wound up getting dinged $ 8 per use. But if I understand the info on the FasTrak website correctly, in the future «HOV Only» may also come with fines.
Retaining a transponder requires a minimum payment of $ 40 a month. Once I got dinged by the «HOV Only» penalty I reduced my use of this service to ensure paying no more than necessary for a service of marginal value.
HOV lanes weren’t designed to encourage carpooling, they were intended to reduce the number of licensed single occupancy drivers on the road. Perhaps the masters of the roadway could increase revenues by redefining HOV use this way. If someone is taking their elderly parents, who are too old to drive, to the clinic just up the road apiece, that isn’t reducing the number of licensed single occupancy cars on the road. If someone has an SUV full of kids, that’s not reducing traffic either. If the passengers are unlicensed grown ups, likewise. Signing these potential users up for a FasTrak RFID device could either increase revenues or, if they declined the pay-​to-​play opportunity, it could reduce traffic on the HOV lanes, making «HOV Only» a less common occurrence.

Fastrak is used to make your life easier by saving you time and money if you drive on the toll road frequently. So to complain about it while not using it and getting charged seems extremely silly to me. You’re not using it for its purpose.
Anyways, that is besides the point. I live in Eastlake right off of the 125, and after years of not using the freeway it seemed like the time to save more time and get a Fastrak transponder. So I went into the office with my boyfriend about a month ago to sign us up and get transponders and it was as easy as can be. There were two people working at the time and they were very kind, chatted with us, and went through all of the necessary information thoroughly. We were in and out of the office within fifteen minutes.
Overall a great experience and the freeway is always pretty empty so it’s fast to get anywhere in San Diego. Plus the transponder works on just about all toll roads in California.

Over the past month, the Fastrak lanes have said HOV ONLY when the main freeway lanes are congested, but the HOV lanes are open and flowing freely. I called today to find out why, and I was told by a representative that the HOV ONLY message is posted if the average speed in the Fastrak Lanes is at a certain level. Which is a ridiculous way to calculate traffic pressure on a rain day.
Please re-​evaluate the way the Fastrak lanes work for paying customers. I will be posting negative reviews wherever I can find a place to post because I feel it is a «bait and switch» to say I can pay for the lanes, only to have them bumped up to the Maximum toll of $ 8.00 when the freeway is congested but the Fastrak Lanes are wide open. I am a taxpayer, and I thought the purpose of those lanes was to assist with traffic congestion and allow commuters to get to work more efficiently. Also, forcing all cars to remain in the main freeway lanes when the Fastrak Lanes are freely flowing contributes to increased air pollution due to all the unnecessary stop and go caused by freeway traffic. I would also think that allowing paying customers to use the lanes would reduce the cost of operating the lanes to taxpayers.

Everything from the web site to how they calculate their rates is confusing! They have taken over $ 200 for the month of June out of my account based on their «variable rate»!!! I drive from Escondido to Carmel Mountain Ranch everyday, that’s it !, and it’s costing over $ 200 a month. I’m done with Fas Trak! Very expensive! The only way they can catch offenders that do not have a transponder is if the CHP pulls them over! They dont even have cameras that take pics of the license plates of offenders so they can fine them for breaking the law. Instead they charge the crap out of the folks paying to use these lanes!!! Dont waste your money!

The people at the office here could not have been more helpful or kind & knowledgeable .
The other reviews are absolute non-​sense!
This is about the FastTrack office here in Scripps Ranch??? Hello!
I do however also appreciate the FasTrack 15 as it is a huge timesaver for me as I’m willing to pay $$ to avoid the excessive traffic.

This location is their office for where you pick up a transponder. I had stopped in for information, but was able to walk out the same day with an active unit that I can move from vehicle to vehicle.
I noticed that everyone seems to be complaining about the freeway system, but this should really be a review about their office. The office appears clean and they are prompt at helping you at the front counter. For the most part, just walk in with your license plate #, driver’s license, and CC in hand; the paperwork takes all of five minutes to fill out. Don’t sweat it if you don’t know your license plate… per the rep, the information can be updated online.
They charge $ 40 on the spot, which automatically gets credited to your account and you can use as soon as you walk out the door. The transponder comes with a mylar bag to block out the signal if you’re using the carpool as opposed to the toll, velcro stickies to mount the transponder to your windshield, and informational material on the FastTrak system. And of course, you can cancel at any time, without hidden fees. They will even refund any balance on your account.
I can’t find a reason to hate the system, or this office. By comparison to LA traffic, in which you have no choice but to sit through, at least I have the option to pay to cut the wait (and heavy vehicle wear and tear that accompanies start-​stop accelerating and breaking) I’d have to deal with otherwise. This transponder has saved my academic life at least three times this past week… and for that, I’d give up a beloved cup-o-joe’s worth of money and pay the maintenance fee if I was lucky enough to have clear and open roads ²⁴⁄₇.

It cost $ 4.50 to not drive your vehicle in the express lane in a month. Driving in the express lane costs as little as 50 cents. If the express lane is about reducing traffic, and carpool incentives are about driving less, why is there a fee to not drive? There is no burden on their system when my car is sitting in the garage. If I thought about it more I’d drive in the express lane when I didn’t need to, just to save myself $ 4.00. But I don’t drive that often, I own this transponder as a convenience mostly, yet they take advantage of me. But I’ll likely keep it, even though I know plenty of people who drive in the express lane with a dead transponder, cops won’t give them a ticket if they see it. Silly system.
UPDATE: Reduced to one star. This is the epitome of capitalist racket. First, they don’t charge you per trip, they charge a large amount to have in your account that it pulls from. It MUST auto-​charge from a credit card or bank account. This money sits in their bank INTEREST FREE.
Then, if your auto-​payment method has a problem, they charge you 5 dollars for a failure to bill. First failure, $ 5. Second failure, another $ 5. I swear I get billed more for all their racket «administration fees» than I do for actually driving. All of this «rigor» for some concrete laying on the ground.

I’ve been thinking lately why I want to spend $ 200 a month to use the Fastrak lanes from Escondido to Kearny Mesa when there are more people in the lanes that don’t belong there then those of us that do. There is no law enforcement. I get passed by guys on motorcycles going 90 weaving in and out of cars and solo drivers just because they don’t want to wait in traffic and know there are no police to catch them. Starting today I will cancel my service and take my chances. I’m sure I won’t get caught.

So I’ve never used FasTrak but I wanted to say that my husband and I hate this freeway. hate hate hate hate hate hate hate it And we have to use it all the time to get just about anywhere. This freeway is always crowded day or night or early in the morning. Why? Because everybody else has to use the same damn freeway.
Why does this freeway always have construction on it? They’ve been constructing this freeway ever since I first moved to San Diego (1995 by the way), moved away, and moved back. They are still constructing it. I hate how they take lanes away only to give exactly the same number back. The right hand taketh, while the left hand giveth away? WTH. Why didn’t you have the foresight to construct this freeway in such a way you could keep the lane you just took away without having to add another one to the left side? Dumbasses. And why do you schedule your construction crews to work on it during morning rush hour. Double dumbasses.
Did I mention how much I hated this freeway?
The only good thing about this freeway is that it goes straight to Vegas. But I can’t promise you a fun ride.

I canceled my service today and I’m sure I’m not the only one! Why would anyone pay for a FasTrak transponder to use during adverse driving conditions (such as tonight) when SANDAG just opens all the lanes to everyone anyway?
Another opportunity to get the city and state out of debt in return for a great service and San Diego blows it again. Shocker.