FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 28, 2004 MAYOR HAHN, COUNCILMEMBER GARCETTI CHEER PASSAGE OF HYBRID PARKING PROGRAM Los Angeles – Mayor Jim Hahn and City Councilmember Eric Garcetti today welcomed the Los Angeles City Council’s passage of a program to allow gas electric hybrid cars to park at parking meters for free. The program goes into effect October 1, 2004. “Now people have another good reason to drive hybrid vehicles, in addition to helping the environment,†said Mayor Hahn. “Every bit of environmentally-conscious behavior makes a difference, and driving a hybrid car now saves spare change at the meter as well as dollars in your gas tank. We all have better things to do with our spare change than feed a parking meter, and we all benefit from having cleaner air to breathe.†“By letting clean motorists keep their pocket change, we can make real change in our air quality,†said Councilmember Eric Garcetti. “As the air pollution capital of the United States, we can't shy away from fighting the battle on many fronts.†The City of Los Angeles already provides free parking at city meters for electric and natural gas cars and trucks designated as “Clean Air Vehicles†by the Department of Motor Vehicles. Mayor Hahn, recognizing the success of this program and wanting to continue to promote clean air, developed a plan to extend this initiative to owners of hybrid vehicles. Councilmember Garcetti introduced the motion in the City Council last July to direct LADOT to begin implementation of the program. The City Council voted unanimously today to pass the program. Initially, hybrid owners will not need to do anything different to take advantage of the policy. Parking enforcement officers will be trained to recognize hybrid vehicles and will simply not cite owners of such vehicles for not paying at parking meters. However, vehicle owners will still be required to comply with posted time limits. In addition, if the State of California and DMV decide to include hybrids as “Clean Air Vehicles,†then hybrid owners would need to receive a sticker from the DMV to qualify for free parking, just as electric and natural gas vehicle owners currently do. Hybrids, which use a combination of gasoline and electric power, provide increased fuel economy on a miles-per-gallon basis and, subsequently, reduce air pollution. California has twice as many hybrids as any other state. Over 4,700 hybrid vehicles were registered in Los Angeles in 2003, more than any other city. The City of Los Angeles is currently converting its fleet to hybrid and electric vehicles and also maintains a small fleet of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. The free hybrid parking pilot program will last for six months. At the end of that period, LADOT will analyze the program and make a determination of whether or not to continue the program.
Just be careful in the municipalities that surround (and often jut into) Los Angeles. Beverly Hills, Culver City, Santa Monica, and West Hollywood, for example, HAVE NOT enacted similar legislation with regard to Hybrid Vehicles. Personally, I have mixed feelings about this. As a RECENT Prius owner (one week exactly this evening), I'm not sure that I'm ENTITLED to free parking (or a "free ride" in the HOV lane). On the other hand, I loathe parking meters, the Parking Enforcement Department, and dealing with coin-money. (also, does anyone else feel particularly glad that the Prius is so "unique" looking? I bet some of the Civic Hybrid owners are going to get erroneously cited, simply because their cars are so hard to distinguish!)
Last week I got a ticket parking in downtown LA. Fortunately I happened across the parking enforcement vehicle that gave me the ticket. She was aware of the new law (heard about it in roll car) but did not recognize my 2004 Prius as a hybrid. She saw her error when she looked more carefully at my car, and took the ticket back. Saved me the trouble of contesting the ticket. Prior to this incident I thought about making a dashboard card that read "Hybrid Vehicle Parks Free" and quoting the vehicle code reference.
The free parking program for Hybrid cars apparently has expired. The posted memo above says the program was only to last six months. I have searched the LA City website today and found nothing to indicate that the program was renewed. I found a posting on the LADOT website that states that ZEV and SULEV cars qualify for free parking only if they have a DMV sticker. The DMV website specifically states that Prius and Honda hybrid cars do not qualify for such a sticker at this time.
Check out this post, it they indicate that it has been extended for another couple of months. Free parking
And don't forget, sometimes the parking cops don't "recognize" a Prius. They know the law, not the car. You have to ask yourself if saving a bit of change is worth the hassle of possibly fighting a ticket.
I always keep a copy fo the memo from the Mayor's office in my glove compartment and just stuck it in the windshield whenever I parked at a LA meter. If I saw I meterperson I inquired if they were aware of the policy. Of the 5 or so I asked, all were aware. The biggest problem is LA is remembering which city you are parking in. If you're not in LA, for example West Hollywood, it doesn't work. The "free parking" in the prior e-maild didn't pull up anything. What is the link? I searched the internet and didn't find anything about the extension.
If you take the = sign off the end of the link in seeh2o's link, it works. Here is the real link http://www.priuschat.com/forums/-quotfree-....html?highlight It sounds like the new press release is still being drafted and has not been officially released yet. Also, check out the map in the linked topic. It is really helpful in figuring out LA City's boundaries.
