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OPfan
New Member
10 Posts |
 Posted - 09/29/2006 : 09:47:23
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Only nine more months to go before the SOV's become HOV's! |
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NoSUV
Advanced Member
1076 Posts |
Posted - 09/30/2006 : 11:50:04
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| That's what y'all said LAST year - you were wrong then, too. |
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MDC
Moderator
638 Posts |
Posted - 10/01/2006 : 09:40:53
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| Your luck just may run out. I'm sure you're contacting every representative you can in the meantime. |
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n/a
deleted
632 Posts |
Posted - 10/02/2006 : 10:26:35
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| NoSUV is a hybrid auto manufacturer lobbist. What do you think? |
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SpongeBob
Advanced Member
USA
679 Posts |
Posted - 10/02/2006 : 11:33:45
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Not all of us were wrong, at least completely.
I said they'd extend the exemption, but I didn't see the cut-off date for the new purchases, or the continuation of the exemption on one highway and its modification on another.
These variations and complexities make it even more likely that the exemption will be extended.
NoSUV is probably right in thinking that a hybrid-only carpool lane is coming. Which is fine by me, so long as they carry 3+ passengers.
(P.S. I saw a high-bred Civic this morning, license plate SLGFRE -- made me want to flip the ugly old red-haired bat off, but, on reflection, I'm trying to be a gentleman.) |
Edited by - SpongeBob on 10/02/2006 11:36:15 |
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OPfan
New Member
10 Posts |
Posted - 11/06/2006 : 15:14:35
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| Only eight more months to go before SOV's become HOV's. |
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OPfan
New Member
10 Posts |
Posted - 12/04/2006 : 07:45:54
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Only seven months to go before SOV's become HOV's.  |
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NoSUV
Advanced Member
1076 Posts |
Posted - 12/04/2006 : 08:58:22
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| Spoke with my delegate and he told me that extending the exemption was in the bag. What does your delegate tell you? |
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SpongeBob
Advanced Member
USA
679 Posts |
Posted - 12/04/2006 : 14:44:07
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Who is your delegate?
Don't you live within the Beltway? |
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NoSUV
Advanced Member
1076 Posts |
Posted - 12/05/2006 : 10:19:09
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quote:
[i]Originally posted by SpongeBob[/i]
[br]Who is your delegate?
Don't you live within the Beltway?
Bulova. Outside the Beltway. |
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SpongeBob
Advanced Member
USA
679 Posts |
Posted - 12/05/2006 : 11:55:09
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Once a privileged class is created, it is nigh impossible to eliminate its perks. If we don't have toll roads, the legislature will eventually have to do the unpleasant task of barring solo CF-tagged hybrids, despite the loud whining of the Lucky Few who had the means to buy in early.
As more hybrids hit the market, it will become even more clear that it is patently unfair that the Lucky Few get HOV access while the Late Majority doesn't.
But who cares about equity or fairness any more? Hey, get your hands off MY piece of the pie, latecomer!
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NoSUV
Advanced Member
1076 Posts |
Posted - 12/05/2006 : 12:16:31
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With the biggest threat to our way of life being global warming, it's only a matter of time before private autos will be able to be used by the "privileged" class. Of course, before the Model T, wasn't it that way, too? Do you suppose that roads were built back then exclusively for autos?
Best legislation we could have now is to ban non-hybrid private autos from express lanes. Talk about an incentive to trade in your fuel inefficient polluting conventional vehicle! And just think - government won't have to pay for it! That should make both advocates of less taxes and tree huggers happy.
Second best is to have all roads become toll roads with hybrid exemption. Quite easy to install permanent "Smart Tags" into all autos with those on hybrids keyed to allow free passage - with others paying. Shoot, tolls could be based on a combination of fuel efficiency and lack of pollution, with pick-ups and Hummers paying the most.
Or we could just buy beachfront property in Arizona. |
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darkprime
Senior Member Member
195 Posts |
Posted - 12/05/2006 : 12:58:34
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| Suppose your suggestions became law and everyone bought a hybrid, so that hybrids >> non-hybrids. Then what? From a traffic perspective, nothing will have changed than it has now. Couple that with an ever growing population and less incentive to carpool, traffic would be even worse. From an energy perspective, why not push harder for forms of energy that have no dependence on fossil fuels. |
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NoSUV
Advanced Member
1076 Posts |
Posted - 12/05/2006 : 14:07:41
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Ah, dark. Seems I've heard this one before from about 2 years ago. The gist is "why do something now when we should wait for something better?"
2 years, and counting.
Gore called it "An Inconvenient Truth." There are at least 2 key words here. Most focus on the last one - truth. What most can't stand is the inconvenient part.
We've got to quit waiting. Hasn't done any good so far... |
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SpongeBob
Advanced Member
USA
679 Posts |
Posted - 12/05/2006 : 14:39:07
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NoSUV, as usual your argument is logically invalid.
To whit: what would be the situation today if we had offered HOV-free passes for all new cars equipped with catalytic converters back in 1975, when they were a new technology for pollution reduction? Once everyone had the converters, you would have almost no carpools left.
So if we follow your plan, once everyone has a hybrid (which will certainly happen), then everyone will have access to the carpool lanes, and voila, no more carpools.
But if you allow only CF-HOV's then you cause a marked increase in non-HOV non-hybrid traffic, meaning even more pollution.
Also, 99% of the country doesn't have meaningful carpool lanes. The only ways to dramatically increase the number of hybrids on the road are to fully subsidize the price differential or have the EPA and FDOT mandate that auto makers sell an ever-increasing number of hybrids each year. The EPA mandated catalytic converters and no-lead gasoline even in the face of a lawsuit from the Ethyl Gasoline Corporation.
We have already hashed out the issue of forcing people to discard their perfectly good vehicles to gain access to a public facility. Not all of us can afford to be so cavalier about car payments, NoSUV.
But I am sure we will all pitch in to buy you a place in Arizona, if you promise to leave and not bother us again.
(BTW, population growth, not climate change, is the looming environmental disaster. But since nobody can get anywhere near that sensitive topic, we fiddle on the edges with Easy Stuff like rain forests and baby seal hunts.) |
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NoSUV
Advanced Member
1076 Posts |
Posted - 12/05/2006 : 15:45:26
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Sponge,
You really need to think things through a bit better. With your example, the key is to change when change is needed. Once enough people have a hybrid, then the change is to HOV. For those who cannot afford to commute, economics will eventually solve that problem for them. Either they will cough up cash to commute (so much for free rides - who in their right mind came up with the permanent thought that they should always be allowed to travel at another's expense?) via public transportation, purchase a quailifying vehicle, or find employment closer to where they choose to live.
How do you suppose metropolitan areas with a greater population density but better traffic manage to make it? Do you think that the reason they don't have a traffic problem is because the workforce doesn't exist there? Or do you suppose that those who choose to live further away are wealthy enough to pay to commute - either with private autos or public transportation.
You were one of the ones who commented months ago about how rapidly the hybrid growth occurred in this region - complaining, if I recall about "the dramatic increase [in] the number of hybrids on the road" yet there was NO full subsidy on the price differential nor was there an EPA or FDOT mandate.
You may have noticed that developed countries have slowed in population growth - there are even a few in Europe with 0 growth. The looming disaster is hitting a thermal tipping point, when the earth can no longer self regulate.
Feel free to donate to my Arizona beachfront property fund, though. I'm pretty sure I'll live long enough to not have to worry about what you (collective you) are doing to the environment - my grandkids may not be so lucky. |
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SOV countdown
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