Tollway’s First Driver Also Has the Honor of Getting the First Ticket

Just moments after whizzing past a bank of television cameras, the first driver to use the new 91 Express Lanes on Wednesday also became the first to be marked for a $100 fine for making the passage illegally.

The motorist’s car was not equipped with a special electronic transponder, which is required for using the 10-mile private tollway.

“Some people may not understand that this is a new kind of road,” said Greg Brooks, a spokesman for the California Private Transportation Co, which operates the new road. “We’re willing to work with them to explain how this works. There’s a learning curve that the public needs to ascend and we don’t mind helping.”

That help goes only so far, however: The first day’s fines will stand.

The tollway runs along the center of the Riverside Freeway from the Orange-Riverside county line to the beginning of the Costa Mesa Freeway.

The route, touted as the world’s first fully automated tollway, is expected to reduce travel time by as much as 20 minutes during rush hours. The dashboard transponders enable overhead electronic sensors to charge users’ accounts from 25 cents to $2.50 per trip, depending on the direction and time of day.

Wednesday’s first would-be customer was not carrying the device, however, and his passage triggered an automatic alarm that California Highway Patrol officials say will result in a citation and fine.

The tollway’s operators contract with the CHP for law enforcement along the private route. At least 30% of the cars making the trip Wednesday lacked transponders and will receive citations in the mail, CHP spokesman Angel Johnson said.

“A lot of people are pulling up . . . and asking, ‘Where do I put my dollar?’ ” said Johnson, who described the first day’s traffic as predictably light given the holiday season and the fact that the tollway had just opened.

“I was actually kind of surprised that people were so confused,” she said.

Greg Hulsizer, general manager of the tollway company, said it was against company policy to disclose the number of tollway users or transponder violators.

Hulsizer said only that he was “very pleased” with the opening day festivities, which were attended by transportation officials from throughout the state.

“We’ve been watching customers beginning to use the lanes all afternoon, which is exactly what we wanted,” he said. “We think they’re going to be very happy now that we’re open.”

Not all would-be customers were that happy, however.

Roger Mohrhoff, a retired developer living in Newport Beach, said he had been trying unsuccessfully for more than three weeks to get the company to send him an application for a transponder to use during his frequent trips to the desert. “It should be rather simple,” Mohrhoff said.

Some motorists traveling along the adjacent part of the Riverside Freeway--which is still free--seemed perturbed Wednesday morning at the two-hour traffic jam caused by the TV crews on hand for the ribbon-cutting ceremony.

Some hollered complaints as they passed, while other drivers gave thumbs up in approval of the new road.

“I hate it when traffic backs up like this,” said Mark Watts, undersecretary for the California Department of Business, Transportation and Housing and one of the speakers at Wednesday’s opening ceremony.

“We should all just get out of here,” he said after his speech had ended.