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Hybrids May be Restricted
in HOV Lanes


Written by Dana Howard (dhoward@news10.net), Anchor/Reporter
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If you regularly drive in the HOV lanes in the Sacramento area you are most likely well aware that you seldom go blithely sailing past the bumper to bumper traffic clogging the other lanes. For miles at a time, the traffic in the HOV lane can be just as congested as any other.


The Federal Highway Administration has made the same observation and is insisting Caltrans do something to relieve the congestion in the HOV lanes or face losing federal transportation funding.


But what Caltrans sees is the cause of the congestion is quite different than the federal transportation department’s take. Federal authorities are blaming the 85,000 single- occupant hybrid vehicles in California that have been given exemptions by the state's Department of Motor Vehicles. Caltrans believes the problems is the rapidly growing population in Sacramento, the Bay Area and Southern California.


With different ideas of the problem come different remedies. FHA wants the exemptions reduced or possibly revoked at some point in time. It has asked Caltrans to provide a plan by July 13 on how it is going to reduce congestion in the lanes.


Caltrans is working on that plan but says limiting access of single-occupant hybrid vehicles is the last resort. Instead, it wants to look at redesigning the lanes to put entrance and exit points at different locations, possibly changing the hours for HOV lane use, or increasing CHP enforcement.


There are approximately 32 million cars, trucks and buses registered in the state of California. Of those, 85,000 hybrid cars have single-occupant exemptions. There are only three car models that qualify: Toyota Prius, Honda Civic Hybrid and Honda
Insight.
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Copyright 2007 News10/KXTV
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Created: 6/20/2007 12:07:51 PM
Updated: 6/20/2007 5:08:20 PM





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Terry

I am not from CA, but where I live, I think the hybrid exemption for HOV access should be abolished. The original intention of HOV was to promote clean air. I don't think 3 single occupancy hybrids is all that much progress from a clean air perspective vs. 3 people in conventional vehicle. The unintended consequence is even farther out development, clogged HOV lanes that were once free-flowing, and the perception (and often reality) that hybrids are for rich people. If you can afford one, you can also afford a bigger house farther away, and benefit from a shorter commute too.

Besides promoting clean air (by encouraging carpooling) the other main purpose of HOV lanes is to maximize roadway capacity and reduce congestion, again by encouraging carpooling and squeezing more people into the same number of lanes.

Allowing hybrids into the HOV lanes is fine as long as they don't become congested. A roadway's capacity actually drops once it's become congested, so if there are enough hybrids on the HOV lanes that it's creating congestion, then the policy is counterproductive.