arnold and his humvee

In California, apparently all 85,000 HOV (high-occupancy vehicle a.k.a. carpool) stickers have been distributed, with a few hundred applications still pending.

I thought the 85,000 HOV application limit was an annually reset one, not a historically cumulative total limit. Apparently not so-- no new hybrid cars are getting new stickers until the year 2010 (or until someone votes for a change before then), from my sources. I'm fully prepared to stand corrected.

So, that relieves initial HOV congestion concerns.

A couple things of interest:
- Any current hybrid + HOV sticker owner must be happy as a clam today, even if, according to one Prius owner, the true federal tax benefit of Prius ownership isn't as significant as initially believed.

- Any near-future new hybrid vehicles which may potentially obtain even more significant gas mileage and far lesser emissions cannot obtain HOV stickers. Only their previous generation models, which are today's models, will have them.
(Which brings up an interesting policy point: why not have a staggered phase-out schedule for today's hybrid HOV stickered cars so that, say, after 2-3 years, they need to re-apply, thus freeing up some slots for future, significantly more fuel-efficient vehicles? What if fuel-cell / ethanol-based vehicles hit the mass market before the 2010 limit? For instance, what must Honda R&D be thinking, considering there are a few clean-n'-quiet diesel models in their pipeline for 2008? Oh right, political vision rarely isn't myopic or provincial.)

- The stickers remain with the car, regardless of title transfers.

- I wonder how much higher of a percentage of the original purchase price that current-gen hybrid resale values will command.