Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Hybrid, Legislation and Policy, USA



Anyone who gets steamed at a Toyota Prius driver trying to hypermile in front of them now has another reason to dislike hybrid-vehicle drivers. They're not earning their right to drive solo in high-occupancy-vehicle (HOV) lanes for free, according to a report from Cornell University's Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management. In fact, they're costing the US economy millions of dollars per year.

The state of California gave out about 85,000 stickers between 2005 and 2011 that allow anyone driving a hybrid to use HOV lanes even if they're alone in the car, and each of those drivers creates "adverse social costs" of about $4,500 a year, according to the Cornell study. Those costs come in the form of longer commute times and higher emissions stemming from the extra traffic in HOV lanes.

One proposed solution is to charge congestion tolls in order to use the HOV lanes, and the researchers think that hybrids and other low-emissions vehicles should be charged about 38 cents a mile. That would be a slight discount from the 45-cent rate proposed for conventional vehicles. The difference adds up, albeit slowly.

Changes may be coming. Earlier this year, a six-year federal highway-spending bill included an amendment that would disallow states from enacting programs allowing hybrid solo drivers to occupy HOV lanes. You can read a synopsis of the Cornell report below.Continue reading Surprise, letting solo drivers in HOV lanes causes problems

Surprise, letting solo drivers in HOV lanes causes problems originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Mon, 06 Oct 2014 14:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.



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Our HOV lanes (Vancouver Canada area) are usually so lightly used that a few extra vehicles in them would not be delaying others.