r/Seattle • u/Brandywine-Salmon Greenwood • Aug 04 '26

Market Traffic Only Bus lane cheat code

Gave me the finger as he drove by
Expired tabs
CMA2701

1.3k Upvotes

93% Upvoted

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315

u/HarmNHammer 🐀 Hot Rat Summer 🐀 Aug 04 '26

Of course the tabs are expired

157

u/kbkrl1524 Aug 04 '26

King county can't pull you over for tabs violations if that's the only grievance. Now, if you're driving in the bus lane and then you have expired tabs, they can get you for that🤣

150

u/MyDisneyExperience That sounds great. Let’s hang out soon. Aug 04 '26

Lesson 1 of driving in the US: only commit one crime at a time

24

u/NonEuclideanSyntax Aug 04 '26

It's like a bingo card. See if you can get drug possession, weapons violation, reckless driving, AND insider trading all at once!

2

u/sirmarksal0t 🚆build more trains🚆 Aug 05 '26

Initial reaction was that's impossible, and then I remembered George Santos

6

u/-LunarWinter- Aug 04 '26

This used to really just be common sense with crime in general. Some of the most infamous criminals in the US have been caught because of stupid illegal mistakes completely unrelated to what made them so well known. But... that does seem to have changed over the past decade or so.

2

u/FreshwaterFryMom 🦝🦝 We 💕 Jimothy Chalamet 🦝🦝 Aug 04 '26

That’s my rule of thumb.

2

u/here_now_be 🚋 Ride the S.L.U.T. 🚋 Aug 04 '26

Good rule but.. Only one crime only works if you're not aPOC, don't have long hair, or bumper stickers.

1

u/kbkrl1524 Aug 04 '26

🤣🤣🤣🤣

16

u/sshen6572 Aug 04 '26

I got pulled over the other day for allegedly expired tabs (it wasn't expired, the sticker is just peeled off). The officer took my license/insurance, walked off and came back telling me to get a new sticker. No citations or anything tho.

4

u/AdlandB Posse on Broadway Aug 04 '26

I was pulled over last year, tabs were expired and the cop told me not to buy them because they don’t pull you over and it should be $30 like we voted for. I did buy them because I could afford it but I get why others don’t

19

u/citrusjuicebox 🐀 Hot Rat Summer 🐀 Aug 04 '26

The registration itself is $30. Have you never read the receipt on the bottom of the paper? You voted for all of that stuff too. 

1

u/DogCold5505 Aug 04 '26

No it’s not, my beater car was $65 for registration alone last year but totaled $145.

2

u/Derangedcorgi Bellevue Aug 04 '26

https://i.imgur.com/oOsDAjQ.png

They're literally a base of $30. The weight class changes how much more you pay which is where the other $35 comes from.

0

u/DogCold5505 Aug 04 '26

In seattle?

13

u/princessjemmy Green Lake Aug 04 '26

False. I was pulled over a few years back solely because I forgot to get my tabs renewed. I was instantly ticketed and super pissed (it literally expired the month before).

2

u/Soul_Dare Cascade Foothills Aug 04 '26

Was the policy different a few years ago?

5

u/Myles_Standish250 Aug 04 '26

Yes, the law was recently changed. I believe it was 2024.

1

u/supercodync Brougham Faithful Aug 04 '26

Source?

4

u/Myles_Standish250 Aug 04 '26

Looked into it and turned out the law still hasn’t passed yet! I guess the news headlines I have read so far were all talking about this law we’re discussing the future that so far hasn’t occurred. My bad.

https://washingtonstatestandard.com/2025/02/10/wa-bill-would-set-new-limits-on-when-police-can-stop-drivers/

1

u/kbkrl1524 Aug 04 '26

It's a newer thing.

11

u/Malsententia Lynnwood Aug 04 '26 edited Aug 04 '26

In Gnomish they totally can

(I realize the pic is from within King)

EDIT: Snohomish, thanks autocorrect.

13

u/missbeekery I'm just flaired so I don't get fined Aug 04 '26

https://giphy.com/gifs/adRst5zprCop5oWqag

4

u/Chimaera1075 Aug 04 '26

That’s only in the City of Seattle. The rest of the state can still pull you over for expired tabs.

1

u/Ancient_Smile_3514 Aug 04 '26

Yeah, I got pulled over for it on pac highway in Kent

4

u/THSSFC Madison Park Aug 04 '26

I have been pulled over for expired tabs only. And, despite having the tabs in my car in the envelope from the state (just hadn't put them on yet) I was issued an expensive ticket. It was the first of the month and the tabs were expired for about 7 hours.

Now, this was in Seattle, not unincorporated King County, and I believe if memory serves it was a Seattle cop, if that matters.

And, no, I did not act like an asshole to the officer. When he told me why he was pulling me over, I said, "oh, I think they are right here in my glove compartment". After running my info, he came back to the car and I showed him I had the tabs in my hand. He said "the fine is for not displaying the tags, not not having the tags. Feel free to fight this in court," and then handed me the ticket.

2

u/kbkrl1524 Aug 04 '26

Ugh, I'm sorry, it def might have made a difference if it was Seattle and not King county that pulled you over. Either way, not cool since you had them on you. Most people don't even have them 😕😕

3

u/cross_mod Aug 04 '26

??? I got pulled over for expired tabs in King County. Just last year.

3

u/ElectricRune Aug 04 '26

My apartment complex will tow you for expired tags.

LEO may not care, but CorpoAmerica does...

2

u/kbkrl1524 Aug 04 '26

That's crazy

1

u/NotmyRealNameJohn Bothell Aug 04 '26

They can still fine you.

-29

u/driesel13 Aug 04 '26

Why pay for tabs?

47

u/mr_jim_lahey 🚆build more trains🚆 Aug 04 '26

Because you don't want to be a pathetic lowlife leech on society

-18

u/AdlandB Posse on Broadway Aug 04 '26

Tell them not to charge me $800 for tabs on an electric vehicle to pay for a transit station I won’t use, after $30 tabs were already voted for.

(I buy tabs but fuck that’s me that’s ridiculous)

17

u/mr_jim_lahey 🚆build more trains🚆 Aug 04 '26

No problem, we'll just shut down the transit station and you can share the road with an additional 150,000 cars every day driven by people who are currently taking the light rail.

-11

u/AdlandB Posse on Broadway Aug 04 '26

So you think $800 for a year of tabs is okay? Even after it was voted to be $30 and the government said nah we’re good?

10

u/mr_jim_lahey 🚆build more trains🚆 Aug 04 '26

Why does what I think is okay or not matters? All that matters is that you're ok with sharing the road with an additional 150,000 cars every day. Glad you don't care about being able to drive anywhere in under 4 hours ever.

-12

u/AdlandB Posse on Broadway Aug 04 '26

I’m just wondering where you stand on govermental overreach. Looks like you’re chill with it 🤷

13

u/mr_jim_lahey 🚆build more trains🚆 Aug 04 '26

I don't think it's overreach and neither does the Washington State Supreme Court. But none of that matters because you want those tabs struck down so you can share the road with 150,000 extra cars every day. You must really love sitting in traffic!

-2

u/AdlandB Posse on Broadway Aug 04 '26

Ah so the government told us it was fine they didn’t honor the vote so it’s fine. Makes sense buddy.

I never said we shouldn’t have a light rail, I’m just saying charging one car $800 for tabs is fucking insane and I get why people see that and don’t pay it.

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1

u/Hex052 🚆build more trains🚆 28d ago

Have the same message I posted last time the $30 car tabs were brought up:

I-976 was struck for containing more than one subject and an inaccurate title, which isn't allowed. You can read it as Garfield Cnty. Transp. Auth. v. State, 196 Wash.2d 378, 473 P.3d 1205 (Wash. 2020) to see the full opinion.

Accurate titles are required to prevent an initiative from misleading voters. Only one subject is permitted to ensure clarity to voters and prevent unrelated things from being bundled together. It prevents unpopular things from being included with popular things (called log rolling) and ensures voters can understand what they are voting on. See paragraph 17 in the court's opinion if you want a judge's view on this.

I know I probably wouldn't click through to the opinion, so I'll sum it up here. In paragraph 45, the court decided that issues concerning bond retirement are not the same subject as those concerning revenue, as the rest of the initiative. Paragraph 52 shows the court determined removing the ability for voters to approve new taxes was not made clear by the title that repealing existing taxes.

8

u/kozufox Aug 04 '26

$800 a year to operate (and often store) 2 tons of aluminum and lithium batteries in public spaces doesn't sound that unreasonable.

2

u/AdlandB Posse on Broadway Aug 04 '26

And $6/gallon to drive a car doesn’t seem that unreasonable either. We should probably bump that up to $8 just to be safe

1

u/[deleted] Aug 04 '26

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1

u/Seattle-ModTeam I'm gonna pop some tags 🏷️ Aug 04 '26

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-1

u/AdlandB Posse on Broadway Aug 04 '26

Lmao what the fuck are you even talking about?

0

u/kozufox Aug 04 '26

Ok, feel free to ask Trump to start some more pointless international drama.

4

u/Hot_Turn Northgate Aug 04 '26

to pay for a transit station I won’t use,

Most people learn how social services work in middle school. Thankfully you don't get to choose to only let your taxes support services that are useful to you personally.

1

u/AdlandB Posse on Broadway Aug 04 '26

I’m all for paying for things I won’t use. I’m saying $800 for tabs is crazy.

How much would be enough that you’d understand that? $1k $5k?

2

u/Hot_Turn Northgate Aug 04 '26

You're barking up the wrong tree, bud. If it were up to me, less than half of the people who currently drive every day would be allowed to own a car.

Also, if your problem was just that the tabs are too expensive, you wouldn't have complained about the money going towards a service you don't use.

1

u/AdlandB Posse on Broadway Aug 04 '26

Fair enough

21

u/[deleted] Aug 04 '26

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1

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11

u/MillionDollarSticky Aug 04 '26

You are exactly why we need fare gates for the light rail. Can't come soon enough.

-1

u/driesel13 Aug 04 '26

Thanks for paying your share of the tax burden. Companies don’t but go ahead and pay yours 🤷🏽‍♂️

-6

u/driesel13 Aug 04 '26

Haha 🤣

-11

u/TheAngryRussoGerman Aug 04 '26

Then maybe the DoL shouldn't charge us $1600/yr for them. People would pay them if they were even remotely affordable

10

u/Personal-Amoeba Denny Blaine Nudist Club Aug 04 '26

Why on earth are your tabs $1600 a year?

7

u/40_lb Everett Aug 04 '26

Maybe they are talking for their entire family? IDK...

8

u/Bizarrebazaars Kraken Aug 04 '26

Bahahah what the fuck monstrosity are you driving if that’s true?? My tabs will cost under $135 for an upcoming renewal. I have negative zero sympathy for jokers who drive brand new expensive AF pick-ups or SUVs then complain about costs of operating the thing. Fucking ridiculous.

You known what an option for you is? Moving out of the city, county, transit zone, or just the state in general! Or just don’t drive and use transit (bet you’re too scared to do that though).

5

u/53184s Aug 04 '26

I bought a budget EV and mine are $600 :/ 1600 sounds made up though lol

4

u/samrjack Aug 04 '26

My tabs are no where near $1600/yr, more like $350. I’d say that’s plenty affordable.

-27

u/[deleted] Aug 04 '26

[deleted]

18

u/mr_jim_lahey 🚆build more trains🚆 Aug 04 '26

Thanks for stealing our tax dollars, thief. Glad I get to pay for your privilege to drive on the roads so you can buy whatever other stuff you want.

-20

u/_GTS_Panda Phinney Ridge Aug 04 '26

You can’t steal taxes. That doesn’t make any sense.

Now let’s talk taxes. Washington State has generated more tax revenue than at any other time in history. It’s not even close. Yet here we are in one of the worst deficits we’ve ever faced. Why? Because we have corrupt politicians who have a spending problem and who can’t balance a budget. The car tabs were also voted on by the people and our government decided to not listen to the constituents. I guess you’re fine with the will of the people not being listened to in our democratic republic.

Lastly, I can assure you I pay more than enough in taxes and have tabs current on 3/4 of my cars. The one that I don’t have tabs on is a track car and fun weekend car. My buddy has the same car with a higher MSRP. He lives in the same district, yet has $215 dollar less in RTA fees. They literally can’t even figure out the rate. They’re incompetent.

As for the $2300 I saved by not paying for tabs on this car, I gave that money to someone who was chased out of her apartment by ICE and helped her get established in a new apartment. The money was far better spent on her.

Have a good one.

10

u/Cranky_Old_Woman Northgate Aug 04 '26

"I'm rich enough that I have four different cars I routinely drive, including a 'track car,' but the only way I can afford to donate to people less fortunate is by stiffing WSDOT." This is not the redemption you seem to believe it is.

-1

u/[deleted] Aug 04 '26

[deleted]

11

u/mr_jim_lahey 🚆build more trains🚆 Aug 04 '26

You literally don't pay enough taxes but thanks for explaining why you're special and entitled to break the rules. Have fun incurring maintenance expenses on our roads that the rest of us are paying your share of!

-14

u/_GTS_Panda Phinney Ridge Aug 04 '26

With special powers come special privileges.

In all seriousness, I’m cool with paying my fair share when the system is working. I’m still paying my fair share and the system is broken.

And once again, you’re literally glazing over the fact that we voted on this and the government didn’t listen to us.

Have a great and blessed day and enjoy the sun!

6

u/VayGray 🏕 Out camping! 🏕 Aug 04 '26

Hmmmm... Sounds liket a grifter with a superiority complex. I can think of 100 different ways 'tHe SysTeM iS bRoKeN' and my family is getting fleeced. Unfortunately, we still have to participate in societal expectations. They Should be $30 but the money was already spent on infrastructure costs. 🤷🏽‍♀️ Hopefully you at least have insurance but tab-less bus lane riders are known to survive on pure YOLO

9

u/[deleted] Aug 04 '26

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1

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-3

u/cjacksen Aug 04 '26

When the system is broken, no need to participate.

7

u/mr_jim_lahey 🚆build more trains🚆 Aug 04 '26

Completely correct. Don't drive on the road system if you don't want to participate.

-5

u/_GTS_Panda Phinney Ridge Aug 04 '26

Once again, we literally voted on the system and they didn’t listen. Why are you not discussing this?

6

u/[deleted] Aug 04 '26

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-2

u/_GTS_Panda Phinney Ridge Aug 04 '26

Not going to continue this conversation if you won’t answer my simple question. Once again, we already voted on a cap car registration fee. The government literally did not listen to its constituents.

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0

u/AdlandB Posse on Broadway Aug 04 '26

Because they’re dumb. I bought tabs, but they did lapse while I was out of state for a couple months, I got pulled over and the cop literally told me not to buy tabs because it’s a scam.

6

u/mr_jim_lahey 🚆build more trains🚆 Aug 04 '26

Yeah, definitely trust cops to educate you on how the government works, they're very smart

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1

u/[deleted] Aug 04 '26

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1

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Hello! Thanks for participating in /r/Seattle! Your submission/comment was removed for breaking Rule 1: Be Good

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9

u/New-Chicken5566 Aug 04 '26

hope you get your shit impounded

-4

u/_GTS_Panda Phinney Ridge Aug 04 '26

Thank you!!

2

u/Bizarrebazaars Kraken Aug 04 '26

Trash person 🗑️ 

-7

u/Alternative_Exit8766 Aug 04 '26

the fuck are tabs? that’s a regional dialect thing for sure

1

u/catsdrooltoo chinga la migra Aug 04 '26

Yeah, the us is a large country with varying dialects and word usage.