Riding Toll Roads on a Motorcycle

While the east coast has grown up with toll roads (turnpikes) for a long time, they're a recent phenomenon here in SoCal. It's only been about 15 years now that we've had them.

As such, I still make the mistake of riding my motorcycle onto a toll road.

It happens when I'm looking for a freeway on-ramp, and find one only to realize that I'm getting on to a toll road. I'm sure there was a sign back there that warned me it was a toll road, but I don't seem to pay attention.

The first thought is to do a u-turn and get out of it, but you can't do a u-turn because freeway on-ramps are all single-direction. So the next thought is that I could just ride through the toll booth without paying, and have the camera photograph my license plate and send me a violation notice.

Most of the on-ramps are completely self-serve. There's nobody there collecting tolls. You have to have exact change to toss into the basket, or bills to feed the machine.

Yesterday, I found myself doing such a thing on the 125 toll road in San Diego. I was fortunate to have three one-dollar bills. It cost me $3.00 to travel a distance of about 3 miles. Toll roads in SoCal are pretty expensive, and as such very few people use them.

It's always a hassel to stop my bike, put it in neutral, set the kickstand, take off my gloves, reach into my pocket and find money. I feed the machine, and instantly the light turns green for me to go. Except I have to put the rest of my money back into my pocket, put my gloves back on, stand up the bike, put it in gear and go.

I wish motorcycles were exempt from toll roads. And in fact, one toll road in Orange County (the 91 toll road), is in fact free for motorcycles, when you pass through the "3+ Lane" but with some exceptions.

Interestingly, as I rode further down the 125 toll road, I see this giant electronic sign that said, "Didn't Pay the Toll? Call XXX-XXX-XXXX"

And obviously you only get 5 seconds to memorize the phone number before passing by, and when you're on a motorcycle you can't exactly write it down. And why do they have such a sign anyways? I thought it was illegal in California to call on a cell phone while driving?

The ideal way to ride the toll roads is to get a transponder, a little device you mount to your car's windshield, or motorcycle. Then you can pass through the toll booth without stopping. And I actually have one, but not on my motorcycle.

Perhaps if they made all toll roads free for motorcycles, then motorcycles wouldn't have to split lanes through public freeways. Maybe it would encourage more people to ride motorcycles to work, decrease traffic overall, and even reduce gasoline consumption just a little.