In July, 85,000 hybrid vehicles get kicked out of the California carpool lanes. On July 1st, the yellow single occupant HOV lane stickers expire. On July 2nd, use of an HOV/carpool lane without the required number of vehicle occupants may lead to the driver receiving a hefty citation. Since July 2nd is the start of a long weekend, the full effect of the expiration will not be felt until Tuesday, July 5th. That’s when up to 85,000 additional cars get introduced into the non-carpool lanes of California. Welcome to Hybrid Carmageddon. More at HYBRID CARMAGEDDON ARRIVES IN JULY | LA Car Goodbye, HOV lane sticker. It’s been nice having you
I was thinking that maybe some of the "hybrid hate" would die down but I thought the only comment there is pretty clever... Interesting. I never saw it that way. I have those stickers but when I was in CA, I never used them much because I tended to go to/from late so all the lanes were open to all traffic anyway. Then, I've moved away from CA in late 09.
When I bought my Prius I didn't ask for a free ride. Isn't saving the planet enough? You want to save your personal time also?
The Insight-1 seats 2 (so do most sports cars) and both seats must be filled to be in the HOV (100% occupancy). A typical car seats 4-5, and can go into the HOV with 2-3 empty seats (50% occupancy or less). A motorcycle seats 2, and goes into the HOV lane with only 1 rider (50% occupancy). "High occupancy" seems a misnomer.
i already got a 2008 NGV Civic, in time for the demise of my Prius hov access. Nice car. Not the car the prius is, but as far as the car pool lanes go, it does what i need it to do. i hope to retire in about 15 months and then hope to sell the Civic, and move to a city where there is not the degree of travel trauma that there is here in Los Angeles County where i live and work. Are you aware of how much money people are getting on Craigs List for NGV Civics, especially those with the white stickers already on them? It's shocking. 10 or more years old cars with 120K and up miles on them for $12000 and up. Later model NGV Civics with lower, but not that low, miles are going for close to MSRP for new ones (which are unavailable). And they sell as soon as they are listed.
