Thought now might be a good time to gather information on the present number of registered California Prii owners there are. Let's hope that figure doesn't exceed 75K. :wink:
Certainly hope someone knows this exactly, because I am about to present an approximation! In 2003, 77,012 Prius were sold in the US, and 11,425 were registered in CA. So 14.8% in CA. The total US Prius sales since inception through July 05 were 182,854. Applying the 14.8% to that, I guess there are about 27,127 total registered now in CA, less however many have been totalled out of the population. This is not to mention the other eligible non-Prius vehicles. I think that the 75k cap is going to suffice for another year at least.
http://priuschat.com/forums/hybrid-cars-co...ighlight=molloy According to Tim Molloy of AP (he has a black Prius): To prevent hybrids from clogging car pool lanes, Pavley's bill expires in 2007 and caps at 75,000 the number of hybrid vehicles that could participate. Owners would have to pay about $8 for decals identifying their vehicles as hybrids to police. As of the end of June, there were 57,164 hybrids registered in California, though not all would be car pool-eligible, according to the Department of Motor Vehicles. In a sign of the vehicles' growing popularity, nearly 24,000 hybrids were registered in the first six months of this year. ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Now don't forget Honda Civic Hybrids and Insight apply also. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Demand will double overnight- I have had several calls already about where/when to get a Prius.
I am ordering that decal tomorrow...........and will be checking with DMV every weekend to see what happens.... I must have carpool access.
Didn't this HOV idea at least start out as a pollution thing, or was it always intended to give people who were willing to cooperate a way to whiz by the uncooperative loners who want to drive their own car? "Here's a taste of HOV Freedom, hybrid owners. If you can't live without it, then pool up like the rest of us or lose out"...
In Cali, it was because of pollution. The SQAMD failed federal standards, and carpool lanes were their mitigation. Since the Prius is so clean, it is consistent with their original purpose.
It may have been so in the beginning, but like all things involving the guv-mint, a way has been found to make money: In addition to the newly permitted hybrids and older CNG vehicles, for the past several years in California, those who wish to pay a toll have been using FasTrak devices to use the HOV even though that vehicle has only one person and gets 1MPG. Even vehicles that do not pass smog check can get a FasTrak...
FastTrak required also... I read in the San Francisco Chronicle this morning that in the Bay Area a FastTrak pass is also required if you want the HOV sticker. Don't know if that's true or not, but I won't be getting one anyway because: 1) I take BART to work 2) I don't think Hybrids should get a break in HOV lanes, since they do nothing to reduce the number of cars on the road (I know, I know, the subject of numerous other threads...)
I don't think requiring a fastrack account is a large problem. You have to prepay $40 worth of bridge tolls, but the account is otherwise free. I don't commute any bridges but I will cross the 16 times it will take to get that money back. Plus fastrack users only pay $2.50 instead of $3 per toll. I had to apply for that account today. I am debating wether to send in a print from the website or to wait for the real "receipt" that is requested on the DMV website. I will probably end up doing both. :mrgreen:
