xcel
08-07-2006, 02:01 PM
"It's my hope that this program will lead to making a smart environmentally sensitive decision". (http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060806/AUTO01/608060326/1148/AUTO01)
Elizabeth White - AP - August 6, 2006
http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/501/Austin_Texas_Meter_Maid.jpg
Meter Maid in Austin, TX. - Hybrids park for free.
SAN ANTONIO - Big is better and portions are large in Texas, but there's still room for the green and efficient.
Environmentally aware San Antonians are getting the last laugh under a new program allowing drivers of hybrid vehicles to park for free at city meters, while the drivers of Hummers, SUVs and trucks still have to dig around for change. Park your hybrid at a one-hour meter? Save a buck. Stop at an all-day meter? That's $2 left in your coin purse.
The city's pilot program, which has enrolled about 150 hybrid drivers since it started in May, is part of the growing national trend toward rewarding the environmentally conscious.
"When it is time to purchase a new vehicle, if we keep adding these types of incentives ... it's my hope that this program will lead to making a smart environmentally sensitive decision," said City Councilman Roland Gutierrez, who proposed the program.
Proof that a vehicle is a fuel-saving hybrid running on both gas and electricity is all it takes to start saving.
"As long as it's a hybrid and it's proven to us and it says it on the title" it's in, said Kenny Appedole, the city's parking division manager.
Several cities offer varieties of the benefit. Salt Lake City and Austin score cars on how much pollution they emit on a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency scale. That means a Ford Focus - not a hybrid - may pass the test but an older hybrid may not.
"We were looking to get the best vehicles out there," said Dan Bergenthal, transportation engineer for Salt Lake City. "We didn't want to say if it's a hybrid you qualify, because some of the hybrids aren't that great."
Other cities that offer some type of reduced or free parking program for clean vehicles include San Jose, Calif., with about 1,200 people enrolled; Albuquerque, N.M., with 500; Fresno, Calif., with about 125; New Haven, Conn., with just over 100; and Baltimore, which for now only offers discounts in city parking garages, with about 25.
"It is definitely a growing trend," said Larry Foxman, coordinator of city program resources for the National League of Cities.
Jennifer Watts, spokeswoman for the Washington-based Electric Drive Transportation Association, said more than 200,000 hybrids were sold in 2005, up from more than 83,000 in 2004 and over 9,300 in 2000.
Jeff Mulliner, a San Antonio attorney, said the program's biggest benefit is its convenience.
"I was constantly showing up places and I didn't have the change," he said, estimating the program saves him less than $5 a week. "What I really dig is I don't have to worry about having change."
Mulliner switched from a sport-utility vehicle to a Honda Accord hybrid last year after he and his wife found they needed to own only one car large enough to ferry them and their four young daughters around town.
Now Mulliner says his gas spending is cut in half.
The program "can encourage, be an incentive to people to acquire a hybrid car of their own, to help them see the advantages," Mulliner said. "Ultimately people are going to act in their own best interest."
But the favored treatment isn't sitting well with everyone.
"We do believe that anything like that discriminates against any other type of vehicle," said Ron DeFore, spokesman for SUV Owners of America, which represents the rights of SUV, van, minivan and pickup truck owners.
DeFore cited other incentives, like letting hybrids with no passengers drive in some car pool lanes, as being unfair.
"Hybrids cost several thousand dollars more than a regular, standard vehicle. A lot of people can't afford that. That's discriminating against people with lesser incomes," he said.
DeFore said people often buy sport utility vehicles to carry more people, sometimes making them more fuel-efficient per-passenger than a hybrid carrying one or two people.
"Our number one message is, we are for vehicle choice," he said. "For people that can live their lifestyle with a small subcompact car, whether it's a hybrid or not, they should do that."
Gutierrez said people who want to buy an SUV should, and that the program doesn't discriminate.
"It's incumbent upon us to do the responsible things that help our community," he said. "Those are the decisions that we need to make."
Elizabeth White - AP - August 6, 2006
http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/501/Austin_Texas_Meter_Maid.jpg
Meter Maid in Austin, TX. - Hybrids park for free.
SAN ANTONIO - Big is better and portions are large in Texas, but there's still room for the green and efficient.
Environmentally aware San Antonians are getting the last laugh under a new program allowing drivers of hybrid vehicles to park for free at city meters, while the drivers of Hummers, SUVs and trucks still have to dig around for change. Park your hybrid at a one-hour meter? Save a buck. Stop at an all-day meter? That's $2 left in your coin purse.
The city's pilot program, which has enrolled about 150 hybrid drivers since it started in May, is part of the growing national trend toward rewarding the environmentally conscious.
"When it is time to purchase a new vehicle, if we keep adding these types of incentives ... it's my hope that this program will lead to making a smart environmentally sensitive decision," said City Councilman Roland Gutierrez, who proposed the program.
Proof that a vehicle is a fuel-saving hybrid running on both gas and electricity is all it takes to start saving.
"As long as it's a hybrid and it's proven to us and it says it on the title" it's in, said Kenny Appedole, the city's parking division manager.
Several cities offer varieties of the benefit. Salt Lake City and Austin score cars on how much pollution they emit on a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency scale. That means a Ford Focus - not a hybrid - may pass the test but an older hybrid may not.
"We were looking to get the best vehicles out there," said Dan Bergenthal, transportation engineer for Salt Lake City. "We didn't want to say if it's a hybrid you qualify, because some of the hybrids aren't that great."
Other cities that offer some type of reduced or free parking program for clean vehicles include San Jose, Calif., with about 1,200 people enrolled; Albuquerque, N.M., with 500; Fresno, Calif., with about 125; New Haven, Conn., with just over 100; and Baltimore, which for now only offers discounts in city parking garages, with about 25.
"It is definitely a growing trend," said Larry Foxman, coordinator of city program resources for the National League of Cities.
Jennifer Watts, spokeswoman for the Washington-based Electric Drive Transportation Association, said more than 200,000 hybrids were sold in 2005, up from more than 83,000 in 2004 and over 9,300 in 2000.
Jeff Mulliner, a San Antonio attorney, said the program's biggest benefit is its convenience.
"I was constantly showing up places and I didn't have the change," he said, estimating the program saves him less than $5 a week. "What I really dig is I don't have to worry about having change."
Mulliner switched from a sport-utility vehicle to a Honda Accord hybrid last year after he and his wife found they needed to own only one car large enough to ferry them and their four young daughters around town.
Now Mulliner says his gas spending is cut in half.
The program "can encourage, be an incentive to people to acquire a hybrid car of their own, to help them see the advantages," Mulliner said. "Ultimately people are going to act in their own best interest."
But the favored treatment isn't sitting well with everyone.
"We do believe that anything like that discriminates against any other type of vehicle," said Ron DeFore, spokesman for SUV Owners of America, which represents the rights of SUV, van, minivan and pickup truck owners.
DeFore cited other incentives, like letting hybrids with no passengers drive in some car pool lanes, as being unfair.
"Hybrids cost several thousand dollars more than a regular, standard vehicle. A lot of people can't afford that. That's discriminating against people with lesser incomes," he said.
DeFore said people often buy sport utility vehicles to carry more people, sometimes making them more fuel-efficient per-passenger than a hybrid carrying one or two people.
"Our number one message is, we are for vehicle choice," he said. "For people that can live their lifestyle with a small subcompact car, whether it's a hybrid or not, they should do that."
Gutierrez said people who want to buy an SUV should, and that the program doesn't discriminate.
"It's incumbent upon us to do the responsible things that help our community," he said. "Those are the decisions that we need to make."