California HOV lane exemption for hybrids so popular that program may end
California's Department of Motor
Vehicles says that consumer response to the government's issuance of exemption stickers for hybrid vehicles has been
such a runaway success story that it may have to shut the green loophole as early as this March. The program, designed
to encourage environmentally-aware motoring affords hybrid commuters the privilege of driving in designated High
Occupancy Vehicle lanes (read: car pool) without passengers.
But California officials say they've been administering about 200 such stickers a day, and once Caltrans issues 50,000 decals, it will reassess the program and its impact on HOV-lane congestion.
If the 90-day study reveals that HOV lanes are packed like sardines, it could call off the program altogether as soon as this summer.
[Source: MediaNewsGroup via Daily Democrat]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Eric 1:48AM (3/14/2006)
I bought a dedicated Natural Gas vehicle. I got tired of sitting in traffic , and getting screwed by the gasoline companies. Sure a hybrid gets the job done .....but they are on the way out. See any electric cars lately ? That's because grants and inscentives have run out. It's only a matter of time before hybrids expire too.
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PriusBoy 3:09PM (3/16/2006)
If the goal of the HOV lane is to reduce pollution and encourage environmentally sound choices of transportation, then rather than baring clean air vehicles from driving in the lane, they should bar ANY vehicle that is getting less than 40 MPG from the lane. If someone makes a responsible choice of purchasing a clean air vehicle, their reward should not be taken away. If it were my law, I would bar any commercial vehicle from the carpool lanes (they are a REAL problem in the LAX area), bar any truck carrying a load of any type (including pickups), and then allow any vehicle that gets over 45 MPG and offers almost zero pollution, and any other car (SUV's included) that have EVERY SINGLE SEAT filled.
We have got to stop caving to the whining. If people want to be rewarded, then they have to make better choices.
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Tony 6:40PM (4/20/2006)
This law is just plain bad! I live in L.A. and carpool with 3 others every morning in a sub-compact. Ever since they passed this OK- access thing the carpool lane has become noticeably worse. Owning a hybrid here is pretty common, but if these people are really concerned about fuel and the environment, they would carpool themselves. But 99% they're only single drivers.
Three people I work with own these cars, drive alone and really think they're doing the world a service by hogging the lane. It drives me crazy for those of us who really are trying to make a difference
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Make Sense 5:16PM (5/17/2006)
Stop complaining...Hybrid owners pay a premium to own a car that is better for the enivroment. Preserving the enviroment which your children will enjoy and so on. This is not just on freeays, but everywhere. It would be a more economic savy decision to purchase a non hybrid to save money, but they decide to spend more. So what if they get to drive in the carpool lane by themselves.
A better way to save the enviroment is to tax the crap out of gas. Use the tax dollars to fund research on alternative fuels. Gas should be $6.00 a gallon. Let's see how many people decide to drive to work then. Let's see how many more people will make an effort to car pool, take public transportation, or maybe purchase a hybrid. It would be better for everyone in the long term.
No matter what side of the fence you are on, I am sure you can agree that hybrids produce less pollutants than gas cars; which in turn helps the enviroment.
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Quit Whining 9:31PM (6/19/2006)
Opening up the HOV lanes to all traffic WILL NOT decrease traffic. Nor will simply building more lanes. Why? Because traffic will move faster for a few days, and the people who decided to stay home because of traffic will realize there's less traffic and get on the road. Then you're back to square one.
The only feasible solution is to tax the crap out of gas, and then rebate a portion of it to the poor during tax time (to get around the regressive effects). That will get people to get creative and get them to actually internalize the costs of their behavior.
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Mark Eddy 6:41PM (7/06/2006)
I ride my 45 MPG motorcycle in the carpool lane all year around, (when temps are above 40 degrees). This accomplishes two things, saving fuel and reducing traffic congestion. My Geo Metro gets 46 MPG, (slightly better than the motorcycle) and is very clean, however, it does not qualify for the diamond lane. Allowing hybrid cars in the diamond lane was one of the worst policies ever implemented by the state of California.
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Don Tremaine 12:24PM (7/24/2007)
I think that all this hybrid stuff is interesting but I'm waiting for the real deal. The modern turbo bio-diesel is the future. They way out perform the hybrid in mileage, emissions, dependancy on foreign oil, and way more horsepower. That being said, there is absolutely no reason that these solo drivers should be allowed in the HOV lanes. These lanes were designed to reduce the number of cars on the road and have nothing to do with the green people. Also I would like to add that the carpool lane should be just that, a carpool lane. Having your small child in the car should not qualify. You are not carpooling if you have a small child in your car, you just have an extra passenger. I think the law should state that the passenger MUST be a licensed driver to qualify as a carpoller.
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Eric Anderson 8:50PM (9/25/2006)
People who buy hybrid cars do so with the belief they're helping the environment or relieving some dependence on foriegn oil (which goes into many other products in addition to diesel and gasoline), if they really feel this way, the most efficient way to achieve these goals would be to only ride public transportation. I mean it's not like they're hauling tools, lumber or something else of significant weight.
I feel the need to echo other posts: if the hybrid vehicles are so efficient on the freeway, then every seat should be filled. However, that sicnificant amount of weight would, undoubtedly, significantly reduce the vehicles mpg in such a manner that it wouldn't qualify for the hov sticker.
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Eric Anderson 1:43PM (10/26/2006)
I'd like to respond to a previous post:
THE WHOLE WORLD IS ADDICTED TO OIL! To single out the US as being addicted to this resource. China is becoming our largest competitor, and their cars have the worst mpg and emissions of any car available. About 66% of the population ot the US to would have to be prius owners make any significant in-roads in regards to oil importation.
I would like to recommend South Park Smug Alert, episode #1002, a brilliant study on the perceived (and observed) behavior of many hybrid owners (and Californians).
The problem with fuel cell technology is producing Hydrogen, which, as far as I know doesn't naturally occur in its raw atate (not bonded to oxygen eg H2O), consequently energy has to be expended in some manner to break its bond to oxygen. And we're back to fossil fuels or nuclear power, solar is too unreliable.
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MARK 11:44PM (4/17/2007)
Just picked up a 04 Cavalier CNG and gas. I purchased it because I don't want to pay $3+ dollars a gallon anymore. At $1.85 for CNG I will run CNG 90% of the time. I thought the access ok decal would be a bonus so I would not sit in traffic, but I now see I can't get a decal. But thats ok I am keeping the cng and still saving money!
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Don Tremaine 3:54PM (7/24/2007)
There is another problem with Hybrids. What do you think will happen to the batterys when they die? This is not a long term solution, it's a band-aid that will blowup in our faces down the road!! Alternative fuels are the answer, not Hybrids.
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Phil L. 11:03AM (1/30/2006)
You'll see hybrid tax breaks do the same disappearing act...
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Byron 11:21AM (1/30/2006)
Curious response by California DMV. My understanding is for vechicle's of the same weight and engine size, there is little to no difference in actual highway fuel mileage between hybrids and conventional cars. Its the start and stop of city driving where the differences are clear. Regenerative braking, and electric assist from stop are non-issues in highway cruising. A similarly effective incentive might be to provide tax and/or HOV incentives for 4 cylinder cars, cars under 3,000 pounds and diesels. All may be too difficult or costly to administer. In the end the easiest, but most difficult politically, is to add a greater tax on every gallon of gasoline.
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Claudia 1:27PM (3/14/2008)
Well sad my friend. The logic behind institiuting a much higher gas tax is unquestionable, but so if the political difficulty and the problems of inequity that arise.
One thing I think is worth mentioning is that, although you are right that it is their start-stop driving that makes hybrids more efficient, there is another feature that makes them worthy of special treatment: that is the actual pollutants they emit. This is in addition to the low greenhouse gas emissions that are the result of high gas mileage; they actually put out less of the other polluting (but not necessarily greehouse) gases as well.
But in any case, I agree that the highway-based incentive might not be the most reasonable...even though I would like to ignore that since I drive a hybrid.
Carlos 11:23AM (1/30/2006)
The carpool lanes are still relatively free flowing. Not free enough to go 80, but that's a bad idea anyway given how people pull into the carpool lane to pass or whatever.
During the summers we get lots of "spare the air" days where the smog is noticeable to the eyes and nose, so I'm all for encouraging PZEV vehicles... whether they're hybrids or not.
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Erik 11:45AM (1/30/2006)
This is great news. HOV stands for HIGH OCCUPANCY Vehicle, not hybrid vehicle.
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Marc 12:41PM (1/30/2006)
Carpool lanes are not about fuel economy. That argument does not hold up on this one.
Carpool lanes exist to relieve traffic congestion and help with air quality. Hybrids are allowed in carpools lanes because of their extremely low emissions, they obviously are not helping with congestion when there is only one occupant in the car. California highly values clean air vehicles, we see the need tangibly. This is why we don't have the same diesels the rest of the country gets, why horsepower ratings for some vehicles are lower in CA, why we have to get our cars "smogged." Allowing ulta-clean hybrids in carpool lnaes is just one more of the ways that the state encourages the production and purchase of low emissions vehicles. (I don't know why this program has not been extended to PZEV's).
If the DOT has discovered that this program has created too much of a burden on carpools lanes efficiency at accomplishing its other task (reducing traffic congestion), then it is realistic to halt it. That does not mean the program has been wrong, just that it is no longer feasible.
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M1EK 12:44PM (1/30/2006)
Byron,
You may be technically correct but your conclusion is faulty - the fact that a Prius can be driven with such a small gas engine means that its highway fuel economy far exceeds that of any other midsize car (even diesel competitors). Likewise with Civic Hybrid.
http://mdahmus.monkeysystems.com/blog/archives/000247.html
(link shows that in Consumer Reports' test, the Civic Hybrid barely beats the Jetta TDI on the highway; the Prius beats both by a bigger margin).
Your conclusion would only follow if it were feasible to drive similar cars on the highway with similar sized gas-only engines, and, frankly, it's not. You couldn't practically haul around a new Camry with the gas engine in a Prius.
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Dustin Tarditi 1:23PM (1/30/2006)
If they really cared they would carpool in their beloved hybrid vehicles.
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iQuack 2:05PM (1/30/2006)
Usually when you want better service or a superior product you pay more for it.
Maybe higher priced fast lanes make more sense to control traffic on freeways: pay more money, but get where you're going faster in less congested traffic.
If the pricier lanes fill up, just raise the price. Yes, there would be the usual cries from the poor lobby, but the pricing mechanism works for almost everything else, so why not apply it to toll roads?
For bureaucrats to decide what cars are good or bad is a losing game IMO.
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