Cities give 'green' light on parking perks for hybrid drivers

An increasing number of offices, hotels and others are giving drivers of hybrids free or reduced-cost parking or reserved spots closer to entrances, similar to those for the disabled or for pregnant women. They're following at least a dozen cities, which introduced such perks in 2004. "It really encourages people to buy hybrids," says Maureen Lacey, of Boston University Medical Campus' parking office. She says the medical center's preferential first-floor parking for hybrids, begun in 2007, was so popular that in October it doubled to 100 the number of available spaces.