Metro wants to end free rides for clean-air vehicles in toll lanes

[cpzilliacus]

L.A. Times: Metro wants to end free rides for clean-air vehicles in toll lanes

Facing rising congestion in the 110 Freeway and 10 Freeway toll lanes, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority on Thursday will consider ending free rides for commuters who drive alone in zero-emission vehicles.

The proposal could place Metro on a collision course with environmental advocates, who say saving time and money on Los Angeles County's toll lanes is a major reason that Angelenos buy zero-emission cars. Reducing emissions from transportation is critical to meeting the state's air quality and climate goals.

[myosh_tino]

Given how congested the HOV lanes are here in the S.F. Bay Area, I kind of wish the perk allowing clean-air vehicles to use the HOV lane be done away with.

[theroadwayone]

7 years ago come July, didn't the HOV perk for the yellow sticker end? I think it was people were buying Priuses, Civic Hybrids, etc. just so they could use the carpool lane as a solo driver.

[mrsman]

7 years ago come July, didn't the HOV perk for the yellow sticker end? I think it was people were buying Priuses, Civic Hybrids, etc. just so they could use the carpool lane as a solo driver.

I believe that's true, but some people were grandfathered in and still get the exemption.

For all the reasons cited, the perk should end completely - even for electric cars like the Chevy Volt because congestion is just too severe.

[A similar thing has happened in Virginia recently.  I-66 connecting Fairfax County with Washington DC used to be restricted to HOV, with certain environmental sticker exceptions during rush hours.   Now with the HOT lanes, the environmental exceptions have ended and anyone who wants to travel on the HOV lanes can pay up (and during morning rush hour it is quite expensive.]

[The Ghostbuster]

Did the "clean-air" vehicles really need free rides in the toll lanes to begin with? Buses and carpools I can understand, but not electric cars. That seems like favoritism to me.

[oscar]

Did the "clean-air" vehicles really need free rides in the toll lanes to begin with? Buses and carpools I can understand, but not electric cars. That seems like favoritism to me.

Well, there's still favoritism for buses and carpools.

As with the HOV (now HO/T) lanes in northern Virginia, the question is whether you can add certain SOV cars to the lanes without slowing down the buses and carpools. Even after the HOV hybrid exemption was capped (ca. 2007, just before I bought my own hybrid), congestion was increasing to the point where plans were made to tighten the HOV restrictions. The HO/T restrictions left hybrid owners in the lurch, though they did get a break for a decade so it's hard to feel too sorry for them.

[jeffandnicole]

Did the "clean-air" vehicles really need free rides in the toll lanes to begin with? Buses and carpools I can understand, but not electric cars. That seems like favoritism to me.

It was definitely done as a way to increase sales of the vehicles, which were otherwise more expensive than other cars of their size and function. 

[mrsman]

Having read another article about it, there is one point to make clear:

Certain clean fuel vehicles still get an exemption to use the HOV lanes on other LA area freeways.  They are only booted off from the 110 and 10 HOT lanes (but are welcome to participate if they pay the toll).

And this makes sense in terms of a hierarchy:  lanes are reserved for special use.  They should be primarily for high occupancy vehicles.  If there is still space in the lane, LA MTA can allow other specified users to join them so long as they don't degrade efficient operation of the lane and so that the lane does not appear to be empty or unused (which will cause political pressure to open up the lane to all users).  For traditional carpool lanes, the lanes were opened up for use by clean-air vehicles, but the number of users got capped once the traffic in the lane started to slow down.  For HOT lanes they open them up to those willing to pay.  And where dynamic pricing is employed, the computers can set the price of the toll to keep traffic in the lane moving to a set speed (likie 45 MPH).  And then the operator has to make a judgment call, should we also allow clean-air vehicles to also ride for free or discount [which will leave less space and cause the regular toll to rise further], or exclude the clean-air vehicles from special treatment [to keep the toll at a more reasonable level.]

So it seems that LA MTA feels that the pricing structure alone shoud be used to regulate the number of cars in the lane to keep speeds moving at 45 MPH.  Therefore, clean-air vehicles cannot ride these lanes for free.  But in regular carpool lanes, they are welcome since there is space for the capped number of clean air-vehicles.

[jakeroot]

In Vancouver, the HOV lanes on Hwy 1 were switched not long ago to allow electric vehicles with an appropriate decal. In my experience, the HOV lanes are moderately well used, so at this point no harm done. But if the HOV lanes ever get too busy, they absolutely need to be the first to go. Unlike most buses, electric vehicles don't produce any on-the-spot emissions, so having them stop-and-go in the GP lanes is less harmful than a really slow HOV lane with a bunch of regular gas/diesel vehicles.

WSDOT has never permitted electric vehicles in HOV lanes to my knowledge. Which is good, since many of Seattle's HOV lanes are very heavily used. Having electric vehicles also in them would not help the lane. That being said, the electric vehicle market up here is plenty strong, so I doubt the removal of LA's clean-air HOV allowance will have much effect on the sale of the vehicles down there (especially since there are fewer electric vehicles taxes in CA than in WA).

[jrouse]

Did the "clean-air" vehicles really need free rides in the toll lanes to begin with? Buses and carpools I can understand, but not electric cars. That seems like favoritism to me.

The reason they got in was because the express lanes are converted HOV lanes, and so any vehicle that already qualified to use the HOV lanes was permitted to travel toll-free in the express lanes.  It was only about 4 or 5 years ago that the law was changed to allow them to be tolled.  It was, however, very difficult from a technical standpoint to do so due to the limitations with the FasTrak tolling technology.  With the change to a new technology next year it will be much easier to start tolling them.

[jrouse]

7 years ago come July, didn't the HOV perk for the yellow sticker end? I think it was people were buying Priuses, Civic Hybrids, etc. just so they could use the carpool lane as a solo driver.

I believe that's true, but some people were grandfathered in and still get the exemption.

For all the reasons cited, the perk should end completely - even for electric cars like the Chevy Volt because congestion is just too severe.

[A similar thing has happened in Virginia recently.  I-66 connecting Fairfax County with Washington DC used to be restricted to HOV, with certain environmental sticker exceptions during rush hours.   Now with the HOT lanes, the environmental exceptions have ended and anyone who wants to travel on the HOV lanes can pay up (and during morning rush hour it is quite expensive.]

Yes, the yellow decal program ended back in 2011.  There was also a white decal issued to zero emission vehicles and that program continues.  In March, DMV made the decision to stop issuing two different colors of decals and now issue one color for all qualifying vehicles.  That's because both decal programs have the same sunset date whereas in time past they did not.