Bill allowing PIP in pay car-pool lanes

From the LA Times website:

A bill that would prevent local transit agencies from tossing solo drivers in zero- and low-emission vehicles out of some car-pool lanes cleared the California Assembly on Thursday.
The legislation, authored by Assemblyman Bob Blumenfield (D-Woodland Hills), would allow cars with a Clean Air Vehicle Sticker free access to carpool lanes that are converted to High Occupancy Toll lanes.
There are a number of such projects around the state and agencies such as the Metropolitan Transportation Authority plan to make any solo drivers pay for access, regardless of what they are driving. Car-poolers and buses will still be able to use the lanes without charge.
In Southern California, transit officials are converting 25 miles of carpool lanes on the 10 and 110 freeways into such toll lanes. Solo drivers will have to pay up to $1.40 a mile during peak rush-hour traffic.
As part of a one-year and pilot program, the MTA plans to start charging tolls for solo drivers using a section of the 110 Freeway between Adams Boulevard and the Artesia Transit Center in October and the 10 Freeway between Alameda Street and the 605 Freeway in February.
“The clean-car sticker program has been a tremendous success in keeping our air cleaner and reducing climate change,†said Blumenfield. “But we will soon see many carpool lanes converted into toll lanes. My bill preserves a key incentive for consumers to continue to purchase cleaner, greener cars.â€
Vehicles eligible for the stickers include electric cars, plug-in hybrids as well as natural gas and hydrogen-powered autos.
Blumenfied’s legislation, AB 2405, passed the Assembly on a 49-25 vote and moves to the state Senate for consideration.
The MTA has said it wants to keep traffic moving by charging all solo drivers for using the roads. The agency said the prior experiments allowing solo drivers in so-called clean vehicles have clogged traffic more than many people realize.


Maybe we can continue to use the 110 and 10 toll lane yet.

 

Same here in Southern CA. I think the MTA is talking about the car-pool lane. Yes, after the stickers expired, there were a lot less cars in the car-pool lanes, but more in the "regular" lanes, with more congestion. I remember news articles on this last year.