*This editorial is especially notable, considering
the Dallas Morning News is not known for being
particularly left-leaning.

Helping the Hybrids: Fuel-efficient cars deserve HOV, parking perks

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dw...s.f771c0c7.html

username: ajreader@artsjournal.com
password: access

10:01 PM CDT on Sunday, May 29, 2005

It's 7:23 a.m., the height of rush hour, and you're running late. But not to fear. You jump in your trusty hybrid and, despite being its sole occupant, zip right onto the freeway HOV lane and past the poor gridlocked sods in their gas-guzzlers.

In fact, your commute goes so quickly that you've got a few extra minutes in which to pick up your dry cleaning. This involves parking on the street, in a metered space, but even though you have no change, you park with impunity.

There are states and cities where those scenarios actually exist. In Virginia, drivers of hybrids can use HOV lanes regardless of whether they carry any passengers. In the cities of Los Angeles, Albuquerque, N.M., and San Jose, Calif., hybrids park at city-operated meters for free (although they must still obey time limits).

Could those things happen here? Yes, although one is easier to achieve than the other. The city can do whatever it likes regarding parking meters. The state can't open most HOV lanes to all hybrids without Washington's OK because they're located on interstate highways.

The major federal transportation funding bill that is awaiting a House-Senate conference committee expresses "the sense of Congress that the Secretary [of Transportation] and the states should provide additional incentives (including the use of high occupancy vehicle lanes on state and interstate highways) for the purchase and use of hybrid and other fuel efficient vehicles."

That is the sense of this editorial board, as well. Unfortunately, President Bush has threatened to veto the bill unless conferees trim out tens of billions of dollars. Even if the bill does die, though, separate legislation was filed in both the House and Senate earlier this year to achieve the same purpose.

Of course, even the brightest ideas have their downsides. Virginia, which got a federal waiver five years ago to allow single-occupant hybrids on HOV lanes, is wrestling with a new problem: Its HOV lanes are clogged, just like regular lanes. For now, that's a problem for Texas to aspire to.