A year later, I-580 pay-to-use lanes are a success, report says

Commuters roll past express lanes on westbound Interstate 580 in Pleasanton, Calif. on Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016. The lanes, now a year old, have been popular for drivers willing to pay money for a faster commute, a new report says. less Commuters roll past express lanes on westbound Interstate 580 in Pleasanton, Calif. on Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016. The lanes, now a year old, have been popular for drivers willing to pay money for a faster commute, ... more Photo: Paul Chinn, The Chronicle Buy photo Photo: Paul Chinn, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 10 Caption Close A year later, I-580 pay-to-use lanes are a success, report says 1 / 10 Back to Gallery

The Bay Area’s newest express lanes — on Interstate 580 through the Tri-Valley region of Alameda County — are just a year old, but drivers are already pouring into them, eager to pay for a quicker commute.

More drivers will get that option in the next few years as the lanes spread across the Bay Area at an accelerated pace.

Since the combination express and carpool lanes opened in February 2016 on I-580, along the main route between the Bay Area and the Central Valley, more than 7.6 million drivers have taken advantage of them, according to a report released Thursday by the Alameda County Transportation Commission, which operates the lanes.

By paying an average toll of $1.62 westbound and $2.13 eastbound, drivers get to drive about 10 mph faster than those in the other lanes. On an average day, about 11 percent of the vehicles traveling on I-580 through the area use the express lanes. That’s about 30,000 cars and trucks a day.

Express lanes are carpool lanes equipped with signs and technology that allow solo drivers to buy access using a FasTrak toll tag. They’re charged a continually adjusted toll that rises and falls with the level of congestion. Critics deride them as “Lexus lanes,” saying they allow the wealthy to buy their way past the backup. But supporters say low-wage workers also use them when they’re late for work or to pick up children. Transportation officials say the lanes are a way of using the unused space in carpool lanes while making a little money.

Either way, the lanes play a big role in the Bay Area’s transportation future. So far, the region has just 50 miles of express lanes along three stretches of slow-moving freeway, mostly on the outskirts of the urban core. But plans call for a regional network that includes 550 miles of them around the Bay Area by 2035. By then, every carpool lane will be converted to an express lane and gaps between the lanes will be filled in.

Looking at February alone, the figures show that of the estimated 30,000 vehicles to use the 580 Express Lanes daily, 52 percent paid a toll and 38 percent legally traveled toll-free under diamond lane rules. The percent of toll-lane cheats fell from about 30 percent when the lanes opened a year ago to 10 percent last month, the report said.

The I-580 lanes run from roughly the Interstate 680 junction in Pleasanton to Greenville Road in Livermore, a distance of about 11 miles eastbound and 14 miles westbound.

The Bay Area’s first express lane — over the Sunol Grade on I-680 southbound — opened in 2010, in a sluggish economy and with relatively free-flowing traffic in most lanes. It drew just 1,400 toll-payers a day. But with traffic and the economy booming, about 3,600 a day are paying to use the lane, also operated by the Alameda County agency. Solo drivers travel about 11 mph faster and pay an average of $2.45 to use the lane.

An increasing number of commuters are also using the Highway 237 Express Lanes, which give drivers a fast way through the Interstate 880 interchange in Milpitas. They run 7 miles between Dixon Landing Road and Lawrence Expressway in Santa Clara in the westbound direction, and 4 miles from North First Street in San Jose to Dixon Landing Road on I-880 in the northbound direction. About 10,000 drivers a week pay an average of $2.80 and save about seven minutes per trip.

Coming sometime this summer is an express lane between Walnut Creek and San Ramon along both directions of Interstate 680. Construction crews have nearly finished installing the equipment to convert the existing carpool lanes to collect tolls and will spend the next few months making sure it works right. The lanes will run 14 miles in both directions between Rudgear Road in Walnut Creek and Alcosta Boulevard in San Ramon.

“I’m not going to tell anyone they will eliminate congestion. They won’t,” said John Goodwin, a spokesman for the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, which is planning the regional network and will operate the new lane. “But they will make the roadway operate more efficiently. We will see reduced congestion at the beginning and end of the peak of the commute, but at the peak of the peak, there will still be congestion. It’s not a silver bullet. But it will help.”

Within the next two years, express lanes are also scheduled to start appearing in the Bay Area’s busy inner core. They should arrive on Interstate 880 — between Hegenberger Road in Oakland and the Santa Clara-Alameda County line southbound and from the county line to Lewelling Boulevard near Hayward northbound in early 2019, Goodwin said.

A year later, express lanes will make their first appearance on Interstate 80, but in suburban Solano County, where they’ll stretch westbound on an existing carpool lane between Air Base Parkway and Red Top Road in Fairfield. An eastbound express lane will require work to widen lanes and won’t open for another couple of years.

Michael Cabanatuan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mcabanatuan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @ctuan

Using Bay Area express lanes

To use Bay Area toll lanes, drivers need a FasTrak transponder. Carpool and other qualifying vehicles require a special FasTrak Flex transponder that comes with a switch that can be adjusted to indicate the number of passengers in a vehicle.

Transponders are available online at 511.org or bayareafastrak.com, by phone at 511 or (877) BAY-TOLL or at Walgreens, Safeway and Costco stores. They are also available at the FasTrak customer service center in the Bay Area Metro Center, 375 Beale St., San Francisco.