Bay Bridge Carpoolers Face Surprise On Commute
SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) – It's been an unusual week for some commuters on the Bay Bridge as many unhappy carpoolers have had to add some extra time to their trip.
Katherine Newport, who picks up casual carpoolers in Vallejo, said the metering lights were on for the first time she and her passengers could ever remember in the carpool lane past the toll plaza, catching her by surprise on Monday.
KCBS' Janice Wright Reports:
"There's usually no traffic," she said. "But the traffic was at a dead stop."
She said all told, it added 15 minutes to her commute.
"I've had six different carpoolers in the last three days and none of us have ever seen those on," said Newport. "We're all trying to figure out but we haven't heard anything."
Caltrans spokesman Bob Haus said the problem is the software that controls the lights.
"They should be automatically set to green, but it wasn't happening for some reason," he said.
The problem still hasn't been fixed so workers are manually controlling the lights while they work out the kinks.
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