Going Solo Now Gets You a Ticket as Hybrid Stickers Expire

Hybrid drivers who commute to work on the 405, 605 or 22 freeways can no longer drive solo in the carpool lane, even if they have the yellow decals on their cars, according to the California Department of Motor Vehicles.

The decals, which were established after the legislature passed Assembly Bill 2628 in 2004, expired July 1.

According to the DMV, the department mailed out 85,000 letters at the beginning of May to registered vehicle owners with the yellow decals.

Only 85,000 yellow stickers were available for cars that met California's partial zero emissions standards and earned a 45 mpg or higher fuel economy rating on the highway, such as Toyota Priuses and Honda Civics.

Drivers with white decals on their cars can still use the carpool lanes without passengers until Jan. 1, 2015. The DMV has issued more than 10,000 of those decals to drivers of all-electric and compressed natural gas cars, such as the Tesla Roadster, Nissan Leaf or Honda Civic GX.

The DMV will also begin issuing a new series of clean air decals in 2012, but specific cars that qualify for the new program haven't been identified, according to the department.