Sticker Lets Green Drivers Drive Solo In Carpool Lanes

Because of a brand new law, California motorists with low-polluting vehicles can take advantage the HOV, or carpool, lanes, even if they are carrying no additional passengers. The perk is set to expire in two years. However, a brand new bill seeks to expand that by an extra 10 years.

HOV lanes available to all

The HOV lanes have been open to motorists of electric, compressed natural fuel, hydrogen fuel cell and plug-in hybrid automobiles since January 1, 2013. The basic idea is to make it much faster to get to work.

CBS reports that Steve Pinkard loves the lane because it saves him time and cash in his CNG vehicle.

The lane has been opened up to solo motorists in clean-vehicles, though the HOV program was really started in order to reduce pollution and reduce congestion with fewer drivers on the road.

Hopefully, the new program will cause more people to purchase alternate-fuel vehicles like the first program did. There was an earlier program that allowed single motorists of hybrid vehicles to use the HOV lanes, and this brought on more people to buy hybrids.

The white and the green

To enforce the program, official stickers need to be posted on qualifying automobiles. A white sticker denotes the vehicle is a zero-emissions model. That is, one that is powered by an electric battery, hydrogen fuel or natural fuel. Qualifying vehicles include the Nissan Leaf and the Ford Focus Electric. There is no limit on the number of white stickers that could be released.

There were already 9,000 green stickers issued at the beginning of the year despite the truth that only 40,000 will be issued total. The green sticker is for vehicles such as the Chevy volt and Toyota Prius Plug-in that are plug-in hybrids.

The yellow or gold stickers previously released for hybrid automobiles are no longer legitimate. They expired on July 1, 2011.

Looking at expiration

The California Assembly by Assembly Member Bob Blumenfield hopes to expand the program to 2025 in a new bill, but it is presently going to expire in 2015.

Does your vehicle qualify?

A complete list of the automobiles that meet the Federal Inherently Low Emission Automobiles (ILEVs) standards can be viewed at the California Air Source Board website. Or, you can call the board's helpline. You can also look for other local incentives for clean air automobiles in California.