This is the second time this year that I've been to Williamsburg, VA and again, I see Prius's everywhere. I'm astonished at how many Priuses I see driving around the streets there. Here in Miami where I live its a relatively rare sighting to see another Prius on the road although the numbers are picking up since I bought my first Prius over 1 year ago. Why are people in VA so enlightened? Why are there so many Prius drivers there and not here. Is it because of the traffic..because they get to use the HOV lane with the Prius. Is it that there is a high concentration of environmentalists in VA. THis has got me really curious. Any ideas?
Northern VA seems to have an abundance, likely for several reasons, sheer population numbers being at the top of the list. I'd guess HOV lanes play a role. But I don't know about Williamsburg. I go through there occasionally, and I really haven't noticed an out-of-proportion number of Prii compared to the Richmond area. No HOV lanes or dense urban areas there, and traffic isn't generally a major problem except on I-64 after a wreck or in the midst of summertime beach-goers or -comers. Now, a little further to the east and south across the river and you're in the second most populous urban area in the state, complete with traffic and HOV lanes. I'm sure some Williamsburg residents commute that way. Maybe that's part of their motivation.
Try the S.F. Bay Area. There are more Prii on the roads than anywhere else. I saw a registration statistic that had the S.F. Bay Area as having the highest number of Prii registered compared to other areas in California, and California has more Prii registered than any other state.
You may have the most # of registered Prii, but Portland OR still has the highest per capita ownership...
Boston ain't no slouch either. I keep telling people "you can't walk half a block in Cambridge without seeing three or four of them" ... . _H*
Wm'burg High Prius Density Probably has to do in large part with commuters to the Portsmouth,Newport News, Hampton, Va Beach, Norfolk area from Wm'burg - I-64 has extensive HOV lanes --- if you happened to notice the unique license plate designation for 'clean fuel vehicle' (really emissions related) anyone with that tag can use the HOV lane with one person in the car....Another part of it is that Wm'burg is a thriving college town which probably contributes to the mix from both students and profs. Here in NoVa hybrids have gottn soooooooo prevelent that in the I-95 cooridor, newly registered hybrids (after 7/1/06) cannot use the HOV lanes which is normally HOV-3... I commute daily in the HOV-2, I-66 corridor from Chantilly to Arlington (Ballston exit) (about 17 miles) and it is not unusual to see 4 to 6 consecutive hybrids in the HOV lanes and as many as 40 in total during my commute. (Heavily Pruis but all hybrids are represented)
