Hybrid Drivers Still Not Special Enough

Tuesday, February 01, 2005, at 05:48AM

By Eric Richardson

Back in October, when CA passed its law saying that solo hybrid drivers could use the carpool lanes, Mack Brown posted that the law had a big problem: Congress had to pass similar legislation. I replied in the comments saying basically that this had been part of the deal the whole time, and that no one should have been surprised by it.

Well, it turns out people still were surprised. The LA Times today has an article about the still waiting hybrid drivers.

It has been a long and frustrating delay, said Lorusso, 46, who moved to Toluca Lake from Ventura last year.

"It was part of the sales pitch, and I've been waiting ever since," she said. "I've been going online every month to see if it's gone through."

I guess lesson number one is don't believe everything they pitch you...

But why does it surprise anyone that this is taking a long time to go through Congress? What incentive do they have to pass it? Even the Assemblywoman who wrote the CA legislation is said to be surprised:

Pavley thought it would be a simple matter to win the federal waiver necessary to implement the law. But an omnibus transportation bill that included the waiver stalled in Congress last year, she said.

See, that's what bills do in Congress. I similarly don't see Congress giving up control of the lanes. States-rights is a good concept, but I haven't seen Congress show a lot of initiative in reducing its power.