California Prius HOV lane sticker "gold rush"

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(darelldd @ Apr 7 2006, 10:44 AM) [snapback]236387[/snapback]</div>

Wow...a blank check! Where do I start?!?

1. Aliens killed JFK
2. The Pope is actually a woman
3. G. W. Bush is an idiot

That's not fair...actually only one of those is correct.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(darelldd @ Apr 5 2006, 09:27 PM) [snapback]235710[/snapback]</div>

No Problem.

When I needed to get out to Redondo Beach (about 5x/month), I would let them know about the traffic, as they need to know when I will be there for security reasons. Fortunately, they have been forgiving, but times (and attitudes) are changing. After 2007, I will simply have to do the best I can. We are trying to set up remote computer access so that I can 'be there' instantaneously. But they do like me showing up onsite. In the meantime, I use those stickers!

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(BellBoy @ Apr 7 2006, 01:08 PM) [snapback]236404[/snapback]</div>

Yeah! How'd you find out about the pope?!?

 

As for the Smug Factor (a la South Park), I'm much smugger when I'm riding my bicycle as opposed to driving my Prius. :lol:

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Emma @ Apr 7 2006, 01:05 PM) [snapback]236476[/snapback]</div>

I have a similar SPF (Smugness Priority Factor). From highest to lowest:

1. Walking (usually when distance is under ~2 miles)
2. Bicycling (usually when distance is under ~20 miles)
3. Battery Electric Vehicle (~95% of vehicle trips)
4. Prius (the ~5% of vehicle trips that are out of the EV's range)

Proud to be smug.

 

The original purpose of HOV lanes was to reward carpoolers and punish single drivers, in the hopes that more and more people would carpool. That hasn't happened though; almost everyone who wouldn't ordinarily carpool still does not; basically the only people in the carpool lanes would have passengers even if the lanes didn't exist.

But then they allowed hybrids onto them so they can serve as incentive to buy fuel-efficient cars (minimum 45 mpg and low-pollution, remember) and they has been very successful -- there are lots of people buying the cars just for HOV access. Hooray! Now the lanes are finally good for something!

Fuel efficiency is not in itself enough of an incentive for many people, but beating traffic sure is.

By the way, I almost never take advantage of my HOV stickers, and I did originally plan not to get them for that reason, but I got them when I realized they might help me get a better deal when trading in my car, which I plan to do in a couple of months.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(cmwade77 @ Apr 7 2006, 10:33 AM) [snapback]236352[/snapback]</div>

Then the info given to me by the director of the program was wrong.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(harrv @ Apr 12 2006, 03:09 PM) [snapback]238751[/snapback]</div>

Looks that way, all I know is what I saw with clean fuel stickers in UT, and they were Prii (Ok I stil don't know the proper plural of Prius) but laws are changing so fast, it could not qualify one day and the next it does I suppose, the information may have been correct at the time.

As for carpool lanes in general, in California they are a total waste of space, you could put two or more regular lanes in for each carpool lane in most cases (not all, but most), this would almost eliminate traffic problems in So. California, there would still be some problems, but not nearly as bad. Also when carpool lanes end, they cause a backup. Does this mean that I won't take advantage of the fact that thy are there? Of course it doens't mean that, if thier there and I can use them, I will, but I do think that they should be converted to regular lanes, thus adding an instant 2-8 lanes on every freeway that currently has carpool lanes if done properly. And doesn't have the end of carpool lane backup problem.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Potential Buyer @ Apr 7 2006, 03:09 PM) [snapback]236529[/snapback]</div>

Actually the original purpose of HOV lanes was to save fuel. At that time, carpooling was a major way to try to achieve that. Allowing hybrids in the HOV lane is consistent with the original purpose of the lanes.

 

"Actually the original purpose of HOV lanes was to save fuel. "

No, the reason for diamond lanes was to mitigate the SoCal AQMD's failure to meet rederal clean air standards. These lanes were presumed to lower smog by encouraging carpooling (even though those in LA knew this would not actually occur).

Neither congestion nor fuel savings had anything to do with the decision. Once made, they cannot be converted to regular lanes, since there was federal clean-air funding used to construct them. It would require a fed rules change to convert them now.