California Prius Drivers May Lose HOV Access

[dipper]

Originally Posted by wvgasguy

Are the lanes to save gas or reward people with hybrids? Looks like it would make more sence to have SUV's in these lanes rather than the Prius anyway. The Prius will get good FE while sitting in traffic. Need to keep the SUV's moving.

It is designed for SUV (ie Carpooling), its the owners' fault for not using the SUV with carpooling in mind. So why reward bad car purchase habit by letting SUV be on diamond lane as single driver?

The law was intended to convince people to buy into alternative vehicles. I say it did its job really well and should expire as intended. I am all for 65+ mpg cars going forward. This will push the envelope of car makers and car sales of advance technology cars.

[ronhowell]

Originally Posted by scotty321

It's ridiculous. I live in Los Angeles, the traffic is horrendous, but the real solution is A REAL PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM.

We're the largest city in the nation yet we have no public transportation, except for an unreliable and shrinking bus system. But the city doesn't seem to be moving too quickly on the idea of public transportation.

At one point in the 1950's, we had some of the best public transportation in the country, but it was bought out and dismantled by General Motors. This is explained in the documentary "Taken For A Ride", available for viewing here: Taken for a Ride

Totally agree. HOV lanes were originally created to REDUCE the number of vehicles on the freeways, not provide benefits to hybrids, EVs or NG powered vehicles carrying only ONE passenger, which does nothing to alleviate congestion.

It makes far more sense to provide a tax benefit to the higher MPG/ less polluting vehicles by some means than allowing them be driven solo in the HOV lanes.

High Occupancy Vehicles means exactly that ... at least 2 passengers or more. 4 people in an SUV gets better gas mileage per passenger-mile than even the latest Prius.

[KTPhil]

"HOV lanes were originally created to REDUCE the number of vehicles on the freeways"

In SoCal, this is not the reason. The area fails federal clean air act standards, and has for years. This could mean the loss of federal highway dollars. The mitigation of HOV lanes was a way to do SOMEthing about the pollution, and maintain federal funding. Allowing hybrids and other low pollution vehicles in the carpool lanes was a later means to further reduce pollution by encouraging the purchase of low emission vehicles. It's all about smog, not congestion.