A couple weeks ago, Sprawl and Crawl Columnist Steve Eldridge said it (No on Hybrids in HOV Lanes, April 5, 2007, CommuterPageBlog) and today the Washington Post's Dr. Gridlock said it in his Sunday Column (Va. Should End Hybrids' HOV Use in '08, Robert Thomson, April 15, 2007; Washington Post). What he specifically said was this:
"Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) signed House Bill 2132, sponsored by Del. Timothy D. Hugo (R-Fairfax), to extend the hybrid exemption one year until July 1, 2008, for motorists with the proper clean-fuel tags. Then Virginia should drop it and let the carpool lanes serve their original customers. What once seemed like a good way to encourage the purchase of cleaner-emission cars by allowing drivers an exemption on interstates 95, 395 and 66 and the Dulles Toll Road has turned out to be a mixed blessing."
Agreed! Thank you Dr. Gridlock for coming down on the right side of this issue. Now it would be interesting to know what Mr. Eldridge and Mr. Thomson think about converting the HOV lanes to HOT or Lexus Lanes. Stay tuned...
Chris Hamilton is the Commuter Services Chief for Arlington County, manager of CommuterPageBlog and a biking/Metro commuter from Rosemont in Alexandria.
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