RICHMOND–Privileges for Virginia hybrid drivers will likely be renewed, but officials say the special treatment won’t last forever.

The general assembly re-authorized legislation allowing drivers of specified hybrid vehicles to use the high occupancy vehicles lanes in the northern Virginia and Hampton Roads areas, as it’s done every year since the program began. The HOV lanes are usually reserved for drivers carrying at least one other passenger.

But even the patron of the re-authorization says the end is in sight for special privileges to hybrid drivers. Del. Tag Greason, R-Potomac Falls, said the explosion of clean fuel vehicles over the last several years is crowding HOV lanes to the point where they’ll eventually become irrelevant.

“At some point in the future, there will be so many clean fuel vehicles that we will have eliminated the benefit of having HOV,” Greason said. “That’s why we’re doing this one year at a time.”

Ever since 1999, drivers of clean fuel vehicles have been eligible to purchase a $25 special license plate that allows them to drive on HOV lanes. Driving a hybrid that qualifies according to the Department of Motor Vehicles is the only way to drive in an HOV lane without the required number of occupants, which varies from three to four people including the driver.

The program worked well until 2004, when applicants for the special plates skyrocketed, said Joan Morris, spokesperson for the Virginia Department of Transportation. In 2005, drivers purchased 8,882 of the special fuel plates, according to the DMV. The number had doubled two and ½ years later.

And last year, 22,444 special fuel plates were sold.

“Around 2004 was when people really started buying them, and all of a sudden the HOV lanes were being sort of clogged with these hybrid vehicles,” Morris said.

In 2005, transportation officials found that 20 percent of motorists in HOV lanes drove hybrids, Morris said.

So one year later, legislators took action aimed to ease traffic on the most clogged route—I-395/95 in northern Virginia. Now, only drivers of hybrids purchased before 2006 may drive on the highway’s HOV lane, while drivers of hybrids purchased after 2006 must meet the occupancy requirement just like everyone else.

The restriction did increase average speeds compared to HOV lanes on I-66, which all approved hybrids may still use regardless of their year. Drivers in HOV lanes on I-395/95 average 53 miles per hour, compared to 24 mph in general use lanes, according to the most recent figures from VDOT.

But HOV lanes on I-66 are a lot slower. Inside the I-495 beltway, HOV drivers average 36 mph, while in the general use lanes the average speed is 23 mph. Outside the beltway, the difference is even less: HOV drivers move just seven mph faster than the average speed of 20 mph in general use lanes.

VDOT figures show that hybrids are contributing to the congestion problem. Hybrids account for 17 percent of traffic on I-395/95, 14 percent in I-66 HOV lanes inside the I-495 beltway and 18 percent outside the beltway.
Special favors for hybrids will end, at least on I-395/95, if the state ever moves ahead with plans to build high occupancy/toll lanes (HOT) on the clogged road. The HOT lanes are said to reduce congestion by charging motorists a toll to use them during peak traffic times.

The initiative stalled last August when officials feared the bond market couldn’t support funding for the project.

If the HOT lanes are ever constructed, hybrid drivers won’t be offered any special discounts to use them, Morris said. Rather, they’ll have to carry extra passengers just like everyone else, she said.

“Once there are HOT lanes, no hybrids will be allowed to ride free,” she said.

The re-authorization passed the Senate unanimously and 78-17 in the House. Stacey Johnson, spokesperson for Gov. Bob McDonnell, said the governor is “currently reviewing” the legislation.