One thing I got to experience in California was the car pool lane. Watching cars and trucks zipping by while sitting in dead stop traffic was enough to make me evaluate my transportation situation. But alas, I returned to Ohio's congested roads and non-carpool lane highways. With that in mind, I read this article with great interest.
ARLINGTON, Va. - Instead of crawling out of bed at 4 a.m. to beat the morning rush, Frank Murphy sleeps late these days. He says he owes it all to his hybrid car — and a law that has some of his fellow commuters upset.Drivers of the environmentally friendly cars are allowed to cruise solo in Virginia’s car pool lanes, slicing Murphy’s daily two-hour commute in half. And since buying a hybrid 18 months ago, Murphy is leaving his home as much as three hours later.
“The quality of life has gone up tremendously,” he said.
I have a lot of sympathy for this guy. And the natural tendency for non-hybrid car owners to get jealous is expected.
But Murphy’s joy is a source of irritation for his co-worker, Kristine Johnson, who does not own a hybrid. To travel in the car pool lane, she lingers at a commuter lot until two strangers agree to ride with her.The inconvenience pays off less than it used to: Johnson complains that hybrids are making car pool lanes as congested as regular lanes.
“It’s not fair,” Johnson said. “In the afternoon it’s all hybrids around me. I used to be able to go home in 30 minutes. Now it takes 45.”
Yeah, I know, 15 minutes really ain't that big a deal. However, this did get me thinking. But first, here's more.
In April 2003, about 2,500 hybrid drivers in Virginia registered their cars and asked for “clean fuel” license plates, allowing them to use the car pool lanes, Morris said. By May of this year, the number had more than tripled — to about 9,000.
That's a pretty big increase for cars sharing one lane of highway. It goes against the basic principle of the car pool lane.
The HOV lane was created for two reasons, and both are inter-related. Reducing traffic, and therefore reducing pollution. But does allowing people who buy hybrid cars into the fast lane really help things. State officials might have an altruistic vision of people buying only hybrid cars, but does clogging the very reason to switch really fulfill that dream?
I've been doing a little research online, trying to find the average yearly output of greenhouse gas coming out of the Toyota Prius. Turns out, the Prius emits out about 5,100 pounds of greenhouse gas every year. If the average midsize car puts out, say, 13,000 pounds per year, it really doesn't make sense to encourage individuals to purchase a hybrid just to cut down on their commute time. If four people car pooling in my Sentra account for 13,000 pounds of greenhouse gas, the same number of people separately driving a Prius would push that output up to ~20,000 pounds. So where's the advantage?
At first glance, the basic idea of allowing hybrid owners into the car pool lane is commendable; in practice it just doesn't make sense. It completely allows state governments to put a band-aid on an deep open wound. Traffic is getting worse while greenhouse gas emissions are on the rise. Highways full of zero emission vehicles is the the key, but we're a long way off from that.
If people want to buy a hybrid (and I'm one of those), they should do it for the altruistic reason. If your main concern is stop-and-go highway traffic, either don't live in highly populated areas or take mass transit. The car pool lane should be for just that; car pools.