The signs were everywhere HOV lanes were on Washington’s highways. Call 764-HERO to report carpool lane violators, they said.
The public awareness program begun in 1984 became so interwoven with Puget Sound’s highway system it bled over into pop culture, lending its name to Seattle-based indie rock band, 764-HERO.
The band broke up in 2002, and the state Department of Transportation announced this week it’s pulling the plug on the HOV violation-reporting program.
“The program has served its purpose because most travelers are familiar with how HOV lanes and ferry queuing operates,” WSDOT said on its website.
The program relied on drivers in Pierce, King and Snohomish counties to call the number when they spotted a violator and leave the offending vehicle’s license plate number. WSDOT would then mail educational materials, not tickets, to the registered owner.
In 2010, the program was expanded to include ferry lane cutters. The program was still garnering results in February when it received 780 reports from the public via phone calls and emails. In February 2020 that number was 2,167.
“It was never an enforcement tool,” said WSDOT spokesman Bart Treece. “It has outlived its usefulness. HOV is not new.”
764-HERO, the band, was formed in 1995 by John Atkins and Polly Johnson and took its name after it was suggested by a friend, according to a biography on allmusic.com.
“I was actually worried at first that we’d get in trouble,” Atkins told the Seattle Times in 2001. The band achieved modest success as part of the late 1990s Seattle music scene.
