Ford Chairman says HOV Legislation is a 'Buy Japanese' Bill

[enerjazz]

This discussion is leaning toward my utopian society. No tax breaks or HOV passes for the Prius, but also no tax breaks and CAFE exemptions for big, overweight SUVs.

Extrapolate that to everything. A clean slate of rules and an income tax form that fits on a postcard. I would gladly give up every tax deduction I'm entitled to if we could simplify the system and have everyone pay their fair share. Doesn't have to be a flat tax, just a simple tax. Simplify my life and remove a ton of power from the politicians. The last 7 words in the previous sentence cover why this is not likely to happen. But it sure would be nice.

[DaveinOlyWA]

It may be for the wrong reasons, but he *is* right. HOV lanes should be reserved for HOVs; hybrids, EVs et cetera should not get a pass.

oh really? like motorcycles?? they are legal here in WA even if the rider is alone. i think we should make it determined by passenger miles per gallon. iow, a Prius with a single driver would be rated at 55 pmpg, a Prius with 2 people would be rated at 110 pmpg...

then set the HOV lanes for say...45 pmpg...(i set it low so hummer only needed 4 people to qualify... :mrgreen: )

[Gurmail]

oh really? like motorcycles?? they are legal here in WA even if the rider is alone. i think we should make it determined by passenger miles per gallon. iow, a Prius with a single driver would be rated at 55 pmpg, a Prius with 2 people would be rated at 110 pmpg...

then set the HOV lanes for say...45 pmpg...(i set it low so hummer only needed 4 people to qualify... :mrgreen: )

Excellent point and a great idea about passenger miles per gallon.

[efusco]

oh really? like motorcycles?? they are legal here in WA even if the rider is alone. i think we should make it determined by passenger miles per gallon. iow, a Prius with a single driver would be rated at 55 pmpg, a Prius with 2 people would be rated at 110 pmpg...

then set the HOV lanes for say...45 pmpg...(i set it low so hummer only needed 4 people to qualify... :mrgreen: )

Although that's a conceptutally great idea in practice it would be nearly impossible to successfully implement as there's no way the street cops could keep track of the exact EPA ratings for all the various vehicles and then accurately determine if they met the 45pmpg condition. Perhaps you could have vehicle 'classes' seperated out:

Hybrids: 1 px
compact/sub-compact: 2px
Mid-large sedans: 3px
SUVs/P/U trucks: 4px

But even that's pretty tough on those guys.

[DaveinOlyWA]

the tougher the better!!

[hdrygas]

Although that's a conceptutally great idea in practice it would be nearly impossible to successfully implement as there's no way the street cops could keep track of the exact EPA ratings for all the various vehicles and then accurately determine if they met the 45pmpg condition. Perhaps you could have vehicle 'classes' seperated out:

Hybrids: 1 px
compact/sub-compact: 2px
Mid-large sedans: 3px
SUVs/P/U trucks: 4px

But even that's pretty tough on those guys.

They could set up something based on something more realistic than the EPA and have a sticker that some states are implementing or a different licences plate. I am not sure that I am in favor of the whole idea at this point but it can be done.

[Bill60546]

Many thanks to Dave in WA for the Big3 supercar graphic.

Follow up note to Mr. Ford: Ok, the concept was publised (and paid for by the US taxpayer) in 2000, so where's the product? Its been almost 5 years. Clearly, your suppliers would have been able to produce components by now. Come'on Bill, you can do it!

[richard schumacher]

oh really? like motorcycles?? they are legal here in WA even if the rider is alone. i think we should make it determined by passenger miles per gallon. iow, a Prius with a single driver would be rated at 55 pmpg, a Prius with 2 people would be rated at 110 pmpg...

then set the HOV lanes for say...45 pmpg...(i set it low so hummer only needed 4 people to qualify... :mrgreen: )

Mmmm... motorcycles.... I'd lean toward Nope. They take up almost as much lane space as does a car, so that doesn't help traffic congestion. Allow them only if they're in pairs, side-by-side :_>

Doing it by passenger-MPG seems impractical to enforce.

[Dilbert]

I agree with bookrats. I love my Prius, but I still leave it in the garage most days and take the vanpool that I operate with 8 other people. Give incentives for hybrids, but don't crowd the HOV lanes with a bunch of single occupancy hybrids doing 59 miles per hour to maximize their mpg. My vanpool beats my hybrid every time because of the number of wasteful/polluting SUV's it keeps off the road. I wonder if someone will ever make a hybrid vanpool?

[Sufferin' Prius Envy]

My vanpool beats my hybrid every time because of the number of wasteful/polluting SUV's it keeps off the road.

But what if this HOV lane incentive convinces eight non-vanpool-type-potential-SUV-buyers to purchase eight Prii instead? Sure beats the hell out of your vanpool as there would be eight less SUVs and eight more Prii on the road doing all the other non-commute stuff too.

A Prii pollutes at 1/10 that of a regular new car. I’m sure the van you are pooling in is polluting probably twice that of the average new car. So, to ballance it out, you may need to stuff your van with 20 or so folks. Plus your van would be driving extra high polluting miles picking-up passengers and dropping them off. The Prii would be straight to and from shots.

Taking it to the Nth degree: IF all cars on the road were Prii type cars, we would only have congestion and happy drivers. Serious air pollution problems would be a thing of the past, oil prices would take a nosedive and emergency rooms would see a decrease in serious auto accident casualties.

The number of these single occupant HOV stickers are limited and it all goes away in 2008. What’s the big deal?!

California has it right in the statement it is making with this law . . .
“THIS IS THE TYPE OF VEHICLE WE WANT ON OUR ROADS IN CALIFORNIA”