HOV Lane 403 | GTAMotorcycle.com

HOV Lane 403

arogal

Well-known member
I commute daily from Burlington to East Mississauga during rush hour and I've noticed an awful lot of motorcycles using the HOV lane on the 403 eastbound in the morning (between 8am-9am). It never fails that there is always at least 1 car pulled over (every morning) for single occupancy in the HOV lane....but I never see bikes being pulled over! I know we are not legally allowed to use the HOV lane, but it seems that a lot of motorcycles do use it, and never seem to get caught. Is this just luck? Does the OPP just not care? I am so tempted to give it a shot, but with my luck I will get caught.
Views and thoughts?
 
As you said. Not allowed.

They're pushing their luck :)

Heck i already got stopped in HOV in the cage but had my daughter in backseat, he just hadn't seen her so he apologized and i was on my way.

Most provincial HOV (if not all) don't allow motos in, whereas some areas in the jurisdiction of the city of Toronto do allow it.

To be honest, although it's tempting, might not be worth the ticket.
 
I use them. My vehicle is at almost max capacity. Many cops I have asked about it say the law is BS, but if they want to nail you they will. Prob is pulling over a bike during rush hour for using the lane does more harm then good. Pulling over a car with single occupant reminds others not to use it. Use your own discretion
 
My vehicle is at almost max capacity.

Why does that matter at all? You still need ~60 linear metres of road whether you are a bike or a car. The intent of HOV lanes is to have <30 linear metres of road per person (and political pandering).
 
Why does that matter at all? You still need ~60 linear metres of road whether you are a bike or a car. The intent of HOV lanes is to have <30 linear metres of road per person (and political pandering).

High occupancy vehicle. Mine is high occupancy vehicle at and I use a bike to save on gas, why shouldn't bikes be part of this? When is the last time the car behind your bike gave you that?
 
High occupancy vehicle. Mine is high occupancy vehicle at and I use a bike to save on gas, why shouldn't bikes be part of this? When is the last time the car behind your bike gave you that?
Yup, its logical, but it doesnt give more votes.
 
The never ending argument .... Ontario is not a place where the recognize motorcycle as a smaller footprint commuting vehicle. Never was and never will, just like lane splitting, filtering ... whatever. The motorcycles are strictly used as weekend toys, as such they are excluded from any HOV perks etc.

Trying to save the 20 pages of bitching ....
 
High occupancy vehicle. Mine is high occupancy vehicle at and I use a bike to save on gas, why shouldn't bikes be part of this? When is the last time the car behind your bike gave you that?

Typically the average cager will give more room to a bike, my experience between driving and riding on the dvp daily for the past five years.

My bike averages 5.8 liters per 100, the car 6.5. The bike is not a game changer in that regards plus the car is way more emission friendly.
Yes the bike is more friendly towards parking, sharing lanes with cyclists.

I use the hov lanes don mills and the 404 every day, never have been bothered by the OPP for the 404.
 
The never ending argument .... Ontario is not a place where the recognize motorcycle as a smaller footprint commuting vehicle. Never was and never will, just like lane splitting, filtering ... whatever. The motorcycles are strictly used as weekend toys, as such they are excluded from any HOV perks etc.

Trying to save the 20 pages of bitching ....

Because when it's moving, it's not a smaller footprint (maybe 2m smaller) (unless you can get a group of bikes together, then they take less space than the equivalent number of single occupancy cars). Lane splitting and filtering actually do move more people through the same roadway. My bikes use more fuel than my car and emit more pollution.

Now HOV lanes shouldn't have the green exemption because that does nothing about HOV. They should have just called them vote buying lanes and we would have less reason to ***** about what is or isn't included.
 
The never ending argument .... Ontario is not a place where the recognize motorcycle as a smaller footprint commuting vehicle. Never was and never will, just like lane splitting, filtering ... whatever. The motorcycles are strictly used as weekend toys, as such they are excluded from any HOV perks etc.

Trying to save the 20 pages of bitching ....
Yeah ... except the people motorcyclists complaining about it are usually the people who use their bikes as a utility hahah
I don't have any HOV on my commute so i can't complain but that, the gov't won't see and doesn't care about right!?

-My bike averages maybe 4-5l/100km, costs me about $12 of gas per week, 0$ in parking downtown, shorter commute
-Car in gas with approx 7-8l/100km (lets be real, its stop and go traffic with a car consumes more than that, just being conservative, say $24 in gas), pay for parking downtown, slightly longer commute.
-GO train + bus costs me about $90 per week and takes the longest.
--*wildcard* taking the bicycle takes costs me $15 per month in storage/showers, takes the -same amount of time as driving the car (still shorter than go transit), keeps me healthier. zero emissions other than my farts.

So in the grand scheme of things, HOVs don't change much except the amount of time spent in traffic, might also help with emissions since smoother driving = better gas/mileage... and less lane changes = safer as well. I gotta say, if it does encourage the usage of things like smartcommute.ca (which i did for a year or so) why not?! but in most cases people don't like taking strangers in their cars.
 
Typically the average cager will give more room to a bike, my experience between driving and riding on the dvp daily for the past five years.

My bike averages 5.8 liters per 100, the car 6.5. The bike is not a game changer in that regards plus the car is way more emission friendly.
Yes the bike is more friendly towards parking, sharing lanes with cyclists.

I use the hov lanes don mills and the 404 every day, never have been bothered by the OPP for the 404.

OPP camps out under the ramp -left exit to 401 west from 404. I pushed my luck there 1 too many times in the car.
 
The ratio of bikes to vehicles would have the result observed.

Cops look for speeding bikes rather than wasting time with bikes in the HOV lane.

It's not legal and I'm sure some motorcyist have been stopped for it.


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Some motorists choose to ignore laws that they disagree with.

As one of the smallest vehicles on the road, with no airbag, or seatbelt, that makes me less safe.

Why would I do and encourage others to do something that makes me less safe in the long run?
 
Some motorists choose to ignore laws that they disagree with.

As one of the smallest vehicles on the road, with no airbag, or seatbelt, that makes me less safe.

Why would I do and encourage others to do something that makes me less safe in the long run?

Being in the HOV lane would be safer than the other lanes though. Vehicles are supposed to enter and exit on dotted lines only, traffic flows and doesn't start and stop, and the lane to the left of you is the shoulder. No?
 
Few years ago I got a ticket doing exactly that on 403 near Hurontario from an undercover. Followed me after i had already left the HOV lane for about a km and then pulled me over.
 
Being in the HOV lane would be safer than the other lanes though. Vehicles are supposed to enter and exit on dotted lines only, traffic flows and doesn't start and stop, and the lane to the left of you is the shoulder. No?

Ignoring a law can sometimes be safer, or quicker, for the person in question, but isn't generally safer, or quicker, for everyone.

Driving home drunk is statistically proven safer than walking home drunk, but I don't recommend it.

Setting a good example is a good thing for those at the low end of the food pyramid.
 
I will ride my own judgment given the conditions set forth. If that mean hov, then I will. Laws do not stop others from hurting me. They are guide lines at best unless one is there to enforce them. Even then they are grey. Cop may be lazy or may have a hard on for you. Again making them unreliable.


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I have seen quite a few on 404 in the morning as well. With my damn luck, the second my wheel crosses that line I'm getting pulled over. An acquaintance of mine, is very involved in politics, mainly Federal but also provincial. Before the last provincial election, I pitched to him, to get the Conservatives to announce HOV will be accessible to motorcycles, if they won. He said there wasn't enough interest and would not get them enough votes. I told him,even die hard NDP'ers could get behind these kind of election promises. Of course I will try again.
 
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