California Gears Up for HOV Diamond Lane Hybrids May 2005

In a white Honda Civic that resembles any other, Jason Alderman flits over Bay Area car pool lanes without passengers -- a practice that draws everything from venom to helpful gestures.

Other drivers stare. Some shake fists. A few kindly motion toward police cars ahead. One time, the driver of a convertible in front of him turned around to scream and offer less helpful gestures.

"I could only imagine what she was saying -- she was furious," chuckles Alderman, a Berkeley resident.

Though his Civic looks like any other stock model, decals on all four sides tell a different story: It is one of California's 6,000 low-emission vehicles allowed to cruise through diamond lanes without passengers.

The sight of solo drivers in car pool lanes could soon become a more common experience on freeways throughout California, as federal lawmakers prepare to approve a six-year highway bill that would also allow hybrid fuel vehicles to use diamond lanes.

While natural gas-powered cars like Alderman's run on compressed gas, which burns more cleanly than regular fuel, hybrid cars use a mix of gas and electricity to putter along.

Up to 75,000 hybrid cars, like the Toyota Prius and Honda Insight, would be granted solo car pool status in California, so transportation officials throughout the state are gearing up for the onslaught.

Hybrids pay toll

The Department of Motor Vehicles already offers applications for special clean-air decals, though hybrid owners can't turn them in until the highway bill provision becomes law. Though it's already legal in California for hybrids to use car pool lanes, drivers have to wait for federal approval because federal money is used to build the lanes.

Caltrans plans to tweak diamond lane signs to include hybrids, while the Bay Area Toll Authority plans to install FasTrak electronic toll collectors on car pool lanes within 90 days of federal approval.

After all, there may be such a thing as an easy ride, but not a free ride.

"Hybrids will be charged tolls," says John Goodwin, a spokesman for the toll authority.

That's not the case for lower emission vehicles like Alderman's.

Powered by compressed natural gas, or CNG, his company-owned Civic is considered better for the environment than regular gas cars because it doesn't spew nearly as many toxic emissions. As an incentive, he can use car pool lanes and skip tolls.

"It's almost a reward for doing the world a favor by buying those cars instead of gas guzzlers," says Jerry Martin, a spokesman for the California Air Resources Board, which regulates which cars qualify for clean-air decals.

The list includes environmentally friendly mainstays like the natural gas-powered Civic and electric-powered Electron Escort.

But who knew turnpike titans like the Chevy Yukon or the Ford F-150 pick up would also qualify as lean, green, ozone-saving machines?

Turns out up to six sport utility vehicles also qualify, including the Chevrolet Suburban. The same goes for heavy pickups, like the General Motors S10.

Of course, there's a catch. The giants must run on compressed natural gas, according to the state Air Resources Board.

"There's not that many at all," Martin says.

In fact, out of California's 26 million registered vehicles, only 6,000 are CNG equipped and registered for solo diamond lane driving, though officials weren't sure how many larger cars qualified.

Car pool cool

Alderman, a spokesman for Pacific Gas and Electric Co., uses one of the company's 600 natural gas vehicles to travel between meetings and media events throughout the Bay Area. Using car pool lanes saves anywhere from 10 to 40 minutes each trip, he estimates.

It also boosts his cocktail party cache.

"I've noticed a pattern as I tell people about the car," Alderman says.

First, he tells listeners that natural gas is better for the environment.

"And they say, 'That's great, Jason,'" he continues.

Then he tells them natural gas is cheaper -- by as much as 50 cents per gallon. Again, he receives polite nods and smiles.

"Then you sort of wait and pause a little bit and drop the big one," he says. "When I tell them you can ride by yourself in the car pool lanes, jaws drop and they go, 'Wow.' I've become a converter."

On the road, the responses are quite different.

Motorists sometimes think he's skirting the law, despite his four clean-air decals.

"It even took the CHP a while to get used to it," says Alderman, who has been pulled over several times. The same goes for toll collectors, he says.

There's a price for the rewards that come with owning a low-emission vehicle. It can cost at least $4,000 to convert regular cars into natural gas cars, which require fill-ups more often and a bit of hunting for stations that sell the fuel.

Alderman says his Civic can travel for about 150 miles before refueling, which he does at a CNG station in Berkeley. Instead of a gas tank, he pumps compressed gas into two long, cylindrical containers that resemble helium tanks.

The costs and frequent fill-ups are worth it, he says, especially on days when accidents clog up freeways.

"I'm driving the speed limit when everyone else is standing still," Alderman says.

SOURCE: Contra Costa Times

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