Just Out: beginning this spring, a limited number of hybrid vehicles in Colorado will receive the same privileges in HOV lanes as carpoolers. Hybrid drivers must apply to CDOT for special decals that will give them access to HOV lanes on I-25, Highway 36 and Santa Fe drive in Denver. The goal is ostensibly multifold:

• Incentivize the use of highly efficient vehicles by making it easier for them to bypass traffic jams.
• Reward purchase of hybrid vehicles, which still cost a premium up front, by providing preferential road conditions for them.
• Limit the number of eligible vehicles to avoid the congestion that has resulted in such programs in Washington DC, California and elsewhere.

The policy raises a few questions:

• Is it fair for hybrid SUVs to get stickers while compact wagons do not, even if the wagon has better fuel-efficiency?
• Does the hybrid HOV sticker favor one type of efficient technology over others, and so some car companies over others? Will it produce more consumer demand for hybrid vehicles?
• As long as the number of vehicles miles travelled (VMT) per person per year continues to rise, will this do anything to reduce congestion? Or will it simply increase miles driven by hybrids, with the same net result for emissions?

As the number and variety of fuel efficient vehicles increase (including those using low emitting alternative fuels, all-electric vehicles and the rare fuel cell-powered prototype), this policy may need to be reassessed to ensure equal opportunity for low emitting vehicles, but it’s a small step in the right direction.

From 9News.com:

DENVER (AP) - Hybrid drivers in Colorado can now apply for special stickers to allow them to drive without passengers in high-occupancy vehicle and high-occupancy toll lanes at no cost.

Officials could begin taking applications for one of 2,000 stickers starting May first.

Rules allowing hybrids in express lanes cover HOV lanes on Interstate 25, U.S. 36 and South Santa Fe Drive in metro Denver and Colorado 82 between Aspen and Glenwood Springs.

Officials at a public hearing by the Colorado Transportation Commission Monday said hybrids and toll-paying single-occupant vehicles would be excluded first from HOV lanes if they become congested.