Washington Post 5/18/06

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Think Virginia, and especially HOV, is overrun with hybrids? Well, you're right. There are 11,843 hybrids in the D.C. area and 8,280 of them are in Virginia. And these aren't a bunch of crunchy liberals in Arlington. These are primarily folks in the outer suburbs who are presumably using hybrids to drive in HOV without any passengers. The highest concentration of hybrids is in Prince William County, where there are 14.8 hybrids per 1,000 households. Loudoun comes next, followed by Fairfax.

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Link to article

 

I am driving down to VA next weekend, can I drive in the HOV lane or do I need a sticker?

That is great that so many hybrids are in the area, I did notice that when we were down in Manassas a month or so ago. Do they limit the type of hybrids allowed in the HOV lanes?

 

You would need VA "Special Fuel" tags on your car. Sorry

So far the hybrids that qualify for the Special Fuel Plates, and the HOV use, are:
Toyota Prius, Honda Insight, Honda Civic, 2005 Ford Escape, 2006 Ford Escape, 2006 Toyota Highlander, 2006 Lexus RX400, 2006 Mercury Mariner.

 

Actually, since you will be traveling during the weekend, you might be able to use the HOV lanes, depending on where you are going. I-395 & I-495's "reversable lane" is open to all traffic on weekends and goes either Northbound or Southbound, according to a schedule.

If you ask me, the signs on the weekend are real confusing if you are from out of town, as the say:

RESTRICTED LANES (with the HOV triangle symbol)
Open to all traffic

Link to the HOV lane Schedule

 

It's also weird how people drive on the shoulder, legally, during rush hour! lol.

I think the only cars that should be qualified are the Prius, Insight and Civic. IMO, the other hybrids do not get gas mileage that is as good as or much better than my regular Civic. But that is just my opinion. Overall, I think the more hybrids on the road the better.

 

NoVa in general is extremely affluent- lots of tech, biotech, and yes, even the Federal gov't pays well (GS15s are dime-a-dozen here)! Best off are the Fed contractors...

Combine high income with very long commutes with very frequent gridlock- on par with any other metro. I think DC is in the top 5 worst driving/commuting cities?

And then top it off with the political demographic- Fed employees tend to lean a little towards the left as a whole, something that does not change with who's in 1600 Penn. Ave.

All these add to a preference toward hybrids to begin with. HOV access seals the deal. Not on the MD side of the river, though

 

Speaking of MD differences, why in the world is HOV on Rt 50 a 24-hr 7-day-a-week thing? It makes absolutely no sense.

 

Correct link to article


Virginia is not overrun with hybrids. By the statistics in the guy's article, there are 8,280 hybrids in VA, out of 1.5 million vehicles. That's .55%. One in every 181 vehicles is a hybrid.

This guy's a hack, looking to make a few bucks with a shoddy article on washpost.com. 12 column inches is a car payment. He picked an obvious target: hybrids and HOV restrictions. His article has no point. Does he approve of hybrids? Does he disapprove? It's not clear. He's incoherently throwing out information he's derived from 11-month old data.

 

He made it sound like y'all in VA get hybrids JUST to ride in teh HOV lanes

 

Some people do. It was a huge part of my decision to buy a Prius. I live in Ashburn, right next to the Dulles Greenway, had just taken a job in DC, and my wife was six months pregnant. I carpool 95% of the time, but I wanted to be able to come and go from DC, as I please.