10/26   Schwartzenegger grants DMV additional stickers, allowing up to
        10K hybrid vehicles to hog up the carpool lane.
        \_ Hogging?  Isn't the point of the CP lane to reduce gas consumption?
           It seems the right place for a vehicle with lower consumption.  I
           don't own one, I drive a gas hog V8, but I don't have a problem
           with single passenger hybrids in the CP lane.
           \_ 2-3 people in a car doubles to triples the fuel efficiency of
              the car...  hybrid w/ one person (which is the only reason to
              have the sticket) may not compete with that (especially if it's
              2-3 people in a non-gas-guzzler)
           \_ I thought it was supposed to reduce congestion. Besides hybrids
              are most efficient in stop and go, so the space should be made
              available to non-hybrid cars that need to keep moving.
              \_ Agree, it's for congestion.
                 \_ The point of HOV lanes is to encourage carpooling. More
                    carpooling improves both congestion and per capita fuel
                    expenditure, but HOV lanes themselves increase congestion
                    by reducing the number of lanes available overall (since
                    less than 1/4 of cars qualify, so more than 3/4 of all cars
                    must use only 3 of 4 lanes). I think Varaiya did some
                    research into this recently.
        \_ US transportation policy is completely inane.  We should
           double or triple the number of highway lanes.
           This would save billions in man hours wasted sitting in traffic,
           reduce emmission, save gas, and generally result in a greatly
           improved quality of life.
                    research into this recently. -gm
                    \_ It improves fuel expenditure, but the point of it
                       is/was to relieve congestion via carpooling. The
                       mileage your vehicle gets was never part of the
                       equation.
                    \_ Carpool lanes carry much more traffic than other
                       lanes, as long as you don't do stupid things like
                       allow hybrids to use them.  (But mainly, carpool
                       lanes are a scam to get semi-eco-conscious taxpayers
                       to approve more road construction; carpool lane
                       constraints are always loosened after the bill/bond
                       passes).  -tom
                       \_ Varaiya's research: link:csua.org/u/hbd
                          Conclusions include an increase in overall congestion
                          and no significant increase in throughput of people
                          (which is what I assume you mean by "more traffic").
                          I find some of the arguments made in the paper to
                          be unconvincing (in particular, the paper does not
                          address the issue of reduced demand outside HOV hours)
                          but I'm inclined to believe that the conclusions are
                          more or less correct. I'd be interested to see data
                          to the contrary if you have any. -gm
                          address the issue of reduced demand outside HOV
                          hours) but I'm inclined to believe that the
                          conclusions are more or less correct. I'd be
                          interested to see data to the contrary if you have
                          any. -gm
                          \_ The issue you mention is a pretty significant one;
                             the primary finding of the paper is that traffic
                             moves faster from 7-9 PM than it does from 4-7 PM,
                             and there's an implicit assumption that the
                             traffic would move at the 7-9 PM speed if the
                             HOV lane didn't exist.  I think that's fairly
                             ridiculous.  -tom
                       \_ A couple years ago CalTrans said more people passed
                          thru the carpool lanes on the left and right of the
                          west-bound Bay Bridge approach during commute hours
                          every day than that on all the other 14 toll lanes
                          combined.
           \_ I guess you could argue the carpool lane rules reward good
              behavior, whether it is carpooling or driving a fuel efficient
              vehicle.
              \_ Buying a new hybrid car in order to use the carpool lane is
                 wasteful. And why reward hybrids and not any car getting
                 above some mpg value? This is idiotic and so are you.
                 \_ I can think of some reasons, and so can you if you bother
                    to think about it, but I agree that the reasons are
                    mostly stupid.