Car Pool (HOV) sticker. When will they be issued again??

[jaw444]

Originally Posted by jrthomasjr

I have a recommendation for everyone that wants to get California carpool stickers. There are 85,000 of them out there. Go buy a used Prius that has the stickers.

In essense, I paid $11.5K for car pool lane stickers and they came with a free Prius attached...

:-) I did that in January, i got an 07 with stickers. The stickers were a must for me, so i didn't even look at 08s or 09s. Very happy with my car, it had 28K on it when i got it. I use diamond lanes every day almost and it has improved the quality of my life and saved me much time and stress, best thing i ever did.

I hope they extend them, i think there was some legislation being considered in March but i don't know what happened to it, to extend the period that cars with stickers can drive in the carpool lanes from 1/1/11 to something like 2015. I love the car, it's such a treat to drive, and i love the stickers, icing on the cake.

I searched Craigs List and one of the online car finder sites. I found my car on Craigs list, it was the 4th one i looked at. hard to believe paying that much for a used car--but i thank myself gratefully every single day.

[cwerdna]

Originally Posted by Frayadjacent

HOV? WTF is HOV?

High Occupancy Vehicle.

Certain highways have lanes where you must have over a certain # of people in the car in order to legally drive in them. Some require 2 and some require 3. Some are always restricted, whereas others are restricted during certain hours (say 5 am to 9 am and 3 pm to 7 pm) then open to all traffic for the rest of the time. Motorcycles, AFAIK are allowed to take them at all times.

HOV stickers let you legally drive in them solo.

[cwerdna]

Originally Posted by avocadoman1

and only a certain number of stickers were available for each vehicle brand.

Not correct. There were no limits per brand. There was a maximum total # which kept getting raised until 85K stickers were issued.

[cairo94507]

Probably the single biggest reason I have not bought a Gen III is I do not want to sell my Gen II and lose my HOV access stickers which I have had since the program was implemented and use regularly. IF, big IF, the State would announce another round of HOV stickers being issued, like the extra 10K in 2006, I would try to complete a purchase in time to get the new stickers.

[jaw444]

Originally Posted by cwerdna

High Occupancy Vehicle.

Certain highways have lanes where you must have over a certain # of people in the car in order to legally drive in them. Some require 2 and some require 3. Some are always restricted, whereas others are restricted during certain hours (say 5 am to 9 am and 3 pm to 7 pm) then open to all traffic for the rest of the time. Motorcycles, AFAIK are allowed to take them at all times.

HOV stickers let you legally drive in them solo.

This is probably obvious, but the rationale for the stickers was to get people to use very low emissions cars, just as the rationale for the HOV or carpool lanes is to reward people for sharing commutes to work in order to reduce the number of vehicles on the road, in order to reduce emissions. California has had a terrible air pollution problem, but it's much better than it used to be, dramatically better. I remember in the 80s and before, maybe the early 90s too, you could see the visible pollution all the time, the air was brown looking, and you could not clearly see nearby mountains, very nearby. Of course, nonvisible pollution is more harmful to health and is present along with visible pollution. I used to regularly get burning eyes and postnasal drip when i would drive on the freeways for any length of time. I haven't gotten that anymore for a long time now. I really appreciate all the measures, including requiring carmakers to lower emissions, that the state enacted, making the state healthier and more beautiful for everyone, but it's still a serious problem. I just heard on the news last week that the city of Cerritos is either the most smoggy city in the US (it's in Los Angeles county) or it's second only to New York City.

What would really help reduce emissions is if society would move forward and embrace more telecommuting for workers. There's no need for a lot of people to be sitting out there on those freeways, jammed together in a sea of exhaust fumes, wasting a couple of hours a day of their precious limited time here on earth, leaving less time for all the things that need to be done, or that one would like to do, sitting in gridlock. Technology makes it possible for a lot of office workers to work from home, but there is a psychological lag time where fear that workers would not really work prevents this potential from being realized. Some day it will happen. And that will make the world better for workers who have to go to their place of employment and commute because there will be so many fewer cars on the road, they won't have all that gridlock.

I used to telecommute two days a week, Monday and Wednesday, for 10 years, until things changed at my job and it didn't work out anymore. It was wonderful for my quality of life, for my child, i was productive on the job at home, and i well know the potential of how much better things will be when society finally takes more advantage of office work done at home, online, electronically, by fax, by video conference, by email, and more.

The reason my employer which employs several thousand people, implemented telecommuting back in the 90s was that the pollution situation was so critical, the state required large employers to come up with some solutions to reduce commutes and get cars off the roads. In theory, that mission still exists but in my office at least, it's not as easy to justify as it used to be. It's voluntary and depends on the supervisor. I still telecommute pretty regularly but not on a set two day a week basis like i used to, as part of my normal schedule.

i keep my hope alive that telecommuting will be encouraged more again in the future. In the meantime, driving in the HOV lanes sure helps with my quality of life. I hope they get extended by the legislature beyond 2010.

[interocitor]

I have been researching whether or not to sell my Prius w/HOV Carpool Stickers at this time or wait. Here is a link to California State Assembly Study on whether or not to extend HOV stickers for hybrids (and other clean air vehicles) to 2016. Be sure to read recommendation on page 4, which does NOT recommend extension for PZEV hybrid vehicles such as the Prius.
-----------------------
AB 1500 ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION, Mike Eng, Chair
BILL ANALYSIS AB 1500 Date of Hearing: April 27, 2009
SUBJECT : High occupancy vehicle lanes: hybrid vehicles
-----------------------
AB 1500 Assembly Bill - Bill Analysis
-------------------------
Looks like once I research a fair asking price I'll be posting on Priuschat Private Sales.

[jaw444]

Originally Posted by interocitor

I have been researching whether or not to sell my Prius w/HOV Carpool Stickers at this time or wait. Here is a link to California State Assembly Study on whether or not to extend HOV stickers for hybrids (and other clean air vehicles) to 2016. Be sure to read recommendation on page 4, which does NOT recommend extension for PZEV hybrid vehicles such as the Prius.
-----------------------
AB 1500 ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION, Mike Eng, Chair
BILL ANALYSIS AB 1500 Date of Hearing: April 27, 2009
SUBJECT : High occupancy vehicle lanes: hybrid vehicles
-----------------------
AB 1500 Assembly Bill - Bill Analysis
-------------------------
Looks like once I research a fair asking price I'll be posting on Priuschat Private Sales.

That's sad news for me. I might need to get a natural gas car down the line. The HOV sticker has changed my life so much for the better, i can't imagine readjusting my time schedule, already stretched beyond capacity, back to sitting in that gridlock for longer than i have to already because HOV lanes aren't everywhere. My job requires an individual car and travel in the field on a regular, often daily, basis, all over L.A. and beyond, plus a commute to the office from the Valley to MidCity. When i was shopping for my used 07 Prius in December, i noticed natural gas cars were more affordable.

Thanks for this information. It doesn't sound good for an extension for the Prius. I guess they aren't giving any credit for used car purchase motivation, getting people to buy low emissions pre-owned Priuses and giving up their higher emissions cars for that. If not for the HOV sticker, i would've gotten another Honda Accord. I loved my Honda Accord in every way, a car that fit me and my needs perfectly, no complaints, just loved it. I test drove one used one when i was looking at Priuses and was really torn, but the low gas expense of the Prius, after the ordeal of the 08 gas prices, and above all, the HOV stickers (before 08, for 20 years, i had a short commute from home to office with traffic, Santa Monica to West LA, 4 miles, and never dreamed i would end up in that exhaust fume gridlock on the 405, it was unexpected), so with some sadness because of my love for the Accord, including the newer 2007 one i test drove, I chose to get a Prius. I'm extremely happy with it, but the point is that i would think there are others like me who make this purchase choice because of the stickers and there is still a rationale for extending the HOV lane access because many of those cars are still newish and with the problems with the economy these days, the market for used cars is relatively bigger than ever. Do they want people to buy higher emissions used cars or lower?

Driving all over the place in HOV lanes in LA, i haven't seen that man of them, by far most of the cars in the lane are high occupancy. Getting rid of the few sticker cars isn't going to improve the congestion of those lanes in rush hour. Encouraging telecommuting would achieve that.

Anyway...if there are more people out there like me, especially with gas prices apparently heading back toward the $4 a gallon range, you should get a good price for your car, especially if the miles aren't too high on it.

Thanks for the info, i was wondering what happened with that bill. It doesn't sound good. Good luck on selling your car.

[interocitor]

I've been checking the web for updates on AB 1500 in California State Legislature. Here's a link to the Calif. State Senate Committee Analysis of June 25, 2009:

AB 1500 (Lieu): High-occupancy lanes: single occupancy vehicles: sunset date.

Still a chance for Prius?? Next hearing date scheduled is 7/7/09.

[interocitor]

AB 1500 was defeated in committee. Here is the current CA State Senate Bill, referred back to committee:
---------------------
SB 535 (Yee)
Vehicles: high-occupancy vehicle lanes.
California Legislation: SB 535 (Yee): Vehicles: high-occupancy vehicle lanes.
-----------------------
Looks like Prius didn't make it ... minimum gas mileage in current version is 65 mpg ...

[jaw444]

Originally Posted by interocitor

AB 1500 was defeated in committee. Here is the current CA State Senate Bill, referred back to committee:
---------------------
SB 535 (Yee)
Vehicles: high-occupancy vehicle lanes.
California Legislation: SB 535 (Yee): Vehicles: high-occupancy vehicle lanes.
-----------------------
Looks like Prius didn't make it ... minimum gas mileage in current version is 65 mpg ...

The least they could've done was give us another year. Just out of sympathy and mercy. :-( Thanks for the updates. Is that the end of it then? Is it done? No amendments, no more debate?