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Miami University Offers Reduced Rate Parking Permits for Hybrd Cars March 2005In a small green gesture for car-conscious South Florida, the University of Miami is ready to reward students for driving hybrids.Starting in August, some hybrid-driving students, professors and staff can shave off 50 percent of their parking permit price, which can run up to $352 per year. It's a rare perk, even for motorists who enjoy a federal tax deduction and sometimes-additional state and local incentives for their part-electric, eco-friendly vehicles. Florida, for instance, lets some hybrid drivers ride alone in carpool lanes. But parking privileges are uncommon, if not entirely untried. A few western cities, including Los Angeles, are experimenting with free parking for hybrids, and Emory University in Atlanta provides special spaces in one campus garage. UM's hybrid parking break is the work of senior Nolan Jaeger and junior Shawn Rosen-Holtzman, whose idea struck her in an environmental-economics course in the fall and e-mailed to UM President Donna Shalala. The plan was finalized this winter. "[We're trying to show] there are hybrid cars out there, you spend half your money on gas, and in our city, where everyone is driving, it's important to pay attention to pollution," said Rosen-Holtzman, 21. Hybrids primarily are powered by their conventional gasoline engines. But they also harvest energy that's usually wasted during braking and coasting. They store that power in a battery, using it to run the vehicle at slow speeds or to help the engine accelerate or climb hills. Some also shut off when the vehicle usually would be idling. All that saves gas, allowing some hybrid cars to log as many as 60 miles per gallon, according to the federal Energy Department. Some hybrid trucks, however, get as few as 17. Hybrids have conservation benefits, as well as consumer appeal. By burning less gas than many regular cars, hybrids take in less of the world's limited oil supply. They also spit out less exhaust that contributes to pollution and global warming, according to the Energy Department. Hybrids do have a drawback: They're generally $3,000 to $4,000 more expensive than their conventional counterparts, though tax breaks help offset the extra cost, said Brian Wynne, the president of the pro-hybrid Electric Drive Transportation Association. But for whatever blend of economic and environmental reasons, drivers have snapped up hybrids so eagerly as to cause months-long waiting lists at times. U.S. sales last year leapt by 80 percent to 79,000, still less than half a percent of all cars sold nationwide, Wynne said. At UM, hybrids number only "in the dozens" among 12,000 student, staff and faculty vehicles, said transportation director Chuck McConnell. The discount will apply only to hybrids with federal mileage ratings of at least 29 mpg, to underscore the project's ecological point. That excludes even Jaeger and Rosen-Holtzman, who admit, with some chagrin, to driving regular cars. Still, they hope the discount will have a measurable impact on attitudes, if not the atmosphere. "If we can get a few people to buy hybrids who wouldn't have done it otherwise, I think that's a success," said Jaeger, 22. " ... It takes baby steps, and hopefully, this will be one." | ||
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