CA Traffic Fast Pass?

[katmigordon]

I hear tell that in CA there is a pass you can buy to take a certain lane in traffic in order to bypass traffic jams?
Would this help on the ride from Disneyland to San Diego? We want to go down and check out the port after our Dl trip.

 

[Winnowill]

You need a Fastrak transponder actually affixed to your car, and it's a monthly pre-paid fee. So it's not particularly useful for non-locals. Info here: https://thetollroads.com/accounts/fastrak

 

[disneycat321]

You need to be on a freeway with a FasTrak lane for that benefit, but as far as I know there aren't any of those lanes on the major freeways that will take you from Orange County and SD. We haven't lived in southern CA for a few years, though.

You need a Fastrak transponder actually affixed to your car, and it's a monthly pre-paid fee. So it's not particularly useful for non-locals. Info here: https://thetollroads.com/accounts/fastrak

We have one of those from when DH used to commute on the 91 freeway in socal, but we don't pay a monthly fee. We just put money on it when we need to use it, which is super rarely. Maybe it's different these days with new ones?

 

[Malcon10t]

We have FasTrak, no monthly fee, just pay for what you use. That said, none of the freeways between San Diego and Anaheim have a FasTrak lane.

 

[DLgal]

You can use a carpool lane for free almost all the way up and down the 5 freeway. All you need is minimum of 2 people in the car. The carpool lane is in effect 24 hours/day and is the far left lane, dennoted by diamond shapes. Please be aware that you need to drive at LEAST the speed limit when you are in there, which is 70mph most of the time. If you don't push it to around 80, people behind you will tailgate and eventually swerve around you in the openings. Only enter and exit in designated areas (don't cross the solid lines at any time). Ticket fines are VERY high if you get pulled over for violating carpool lane rules.

The toll roads in Southern CA are transponder less. If you use one, you go online within 5 days to pay. You need to know where you entered and exited. If you do not pay online, you will get a bill in the mail and are allowed a one time grace on paying online. The second time you fail to pay online, you are assessed a $50 fine. There are some toll roads between SD and Anaheim, but none will take you the way you are trying to go. The most direct route is I-5.

I think there may be some fasttrack lanes once you get to San Diego, but they lead away from the port.

 

[katmigordon]

You can use a carpool lane for free almost all the way up and down the 5 freeway. All you need is minimum of 2 people in the car. The carpool lane is in effect 24 hours/day and is the far left lane, dennoted by diamond shapes. Please be aware that you need to drive at LEAST the speed limit when you are in there, which is 70mph most of the time. If you don't push it to around 80, people behind you will tailgate and eventually swerve around you in the openings. Only enter and exit in designated areas (don't cross the solid lines at any time). Ticket fines are VERY high if you get pulled over for violating carpool lane rules.

The toll roads in Southern CA are transponder less. If you use one, you go online within 5 days to pay. You need to know where you entered and exited. If you do not pay online, you will get a bill in the mail and are allowed a one time grace on paying online. The second time you fail to pay online, you are assessed a $50 fine. There are some toll roads between SD and Anaheim, but none will take you the way you are trying to go. The most direct route is I-5.

I think there may be some fasttrack lanes once you get to San Diego, but they lead away from the port.

Copy and pasted to my wifes FB (She does all the driving) thanks!

 

[cruisehopeful]

I live in San Diego and have the transponder. It's not helpful at all to someone just passing through and there's no special lanes on the coast side which is where you'll be driving to go from DL to the port of San Diego.

There are, as mentioned above, several areas of carpool lanes. Depending on time of day, they may or not be useful.

 

[katmigordon]

I live in San Diego and have the transponder. It's not helpful at all to someone just passing through and there's no special lanes on the coast side which is where you'll be driving to go from DL to the port of San Diego.

There are, as mentioned above, several areas of carpool lanes. Depending on time of day, they may or not be useful.

Any suggestions on the best time to make the trip during the work week? We're trying to avoid turning what should take an hour into becoming 3

 

[cruisehopeful]

Any suggestions on the best time to make the trip during the work week? We're trying to avoid turning what should take an hour into becoming 3

It's really about a 90 minute drive without traffic.

Leave by 6:30 am or
Leave between 10:30am - 1:30pm or
Leave after 6:30pm

If you leave at one of the busier times (excluding morning get to work traffic), you may only have a couple backed up spots that might not add a lot of time to the drive. The biggest problem is traffic accidents. There are some just about every day, but there's no way to know when or where that's going to happen. I use Google Maps on my smart phone. I either type in where I want to go or I click the microphone and say, "navigate to Disneyland park" and it will show me exactly where the traffic is backed up, the shortest route and also tell me how long it will take to get there as well as arrival time.

 

[DLgal]

The trip will take you much more than an hour even without traffic. Plan for 2 hours. Leave between 9am and 12noon. Any later and you will hit traffic going north on I-5 right around Irvine.

 

[hodad]

There's a very slight chance, especially at heavy traffic times of the day, that taking I-15 (which has FasTrak lanes) instead of I-5 would be slightly faster. You could get a FasTrak transponder, but you'd have to load several times more money than you would spend on your trip, so you'd be paying at least $40 to save 20 minutes of driving, or thereabouts.

I have a SunPass for visits to WDW, and I wish California allowed visitors to get a Fastrak without preloading money on it. But maybe that's an option, in which case, go for it!