Caltrans previews beta road‑charge website, asks Californians to volunteer and comment

Caltrans staff previewed a beta version of the California Road Charge pilot website at the Road Charge Technical Advisory Committee meeting in Monterey on April 24 and asked Californians to register, volunteer for the pilot and submit comments.

The website demonstration, delivered by Caltrans staff member Gary Finegan, explained that the site includes a calendar of events, an FAQ, a news feed, resource reports, a volunteer sign‑up and multiple comment buttons. Finegan said the site supports volunteer sign‑ups with ZIP code and basic vehicle information and that the project will capture comments and listserv sign‑ups for outreach.

Committee members said the site was mobile friendly during the demonstration and asked staff for routine performance data. "May I suggest that we get a monthly update on how many people have access to the website and maybe a simple summary of the nature of that comment?" said committee member Marty (committee member), who asked staff to report usage and comment themes monthly. Caltrans staff agreed to provide monthly metrics on comments, volunteer sign‑ups and listserv subscribers.

Caltrans staff showed how users can activate volunteer interest and comments via a simple online form and how the site will carry the pilot fact sheet and outreach materials for committee members to share. Carrie (Caltrans staff) said staff will post outreach materials electronically and supply printed brochures for large public meetings. The site is being beta tested and, Finegan said, is expected to be published after final approvals next week.

Public committee members suggested small design changes to emphasize motorists and to preserve bicycle imagery; staff noted the site uses Google Translate for page content and that PDF or Word attachments will not be translated automatically. Finegan recommended viewing the site in common browsers and said it is mobile and tablet compatible.

Caltrans said site analytics and the roster of volunteers and listserv subscribers will be reported to the TAC so members can track outreach and recruitment for the pilot. The site URL domain was shown as californiaroadchargepilot.com (and related domains). Staff said they will continue to accept suggestions for homepage content and will add an FAQ entry for questions received through email and comments.

Caltrans will finalize the site following the beta test; staff asked committee members to send corrections and suggested additions through the channels posted on the site. The website demonstration concluded with staff offering to provide a short monthly summary of signups and comment themes to the TAC.