The Toyota Prius, the country’s largest-selling, innovative hybrid car, isn’t exactly obsolete. But it soon won’t have its current status in carpool lanes — at least in California.
The Sacramento Bee is reporting that drivers of new electric vehicles like the Chevy Volt, Nissan Leaf and even plug-in edition of the Prius will have the highest privileges in carpool lanes.
Current Prius hybrid editions, about 85,000 in California, will no longer have carpool access after June 2011.
The new program involves a revised series of color-coded stickers, the brainchild of San Francisco Sen. Leland Yee’ and his Senate Bill 535. It’s now on Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s desk.
The pending new policies for California carpool lanes are detailed in the newspaper’s weekly column, Back Seat Driver. Here’s the link: Toyota Prius
Article Last Updated: May 31, 2013.
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A sports, travel and business journalist for more than 45 years, James has written the new car review column The Weekly Driver since 2004.
In addition to founding this site in 2004, James writes a Sunday automotive column for The San Jose Mercury and East Bay Times in Walnut Creek, Calif., and monthly auto review and wellness columns for Gulfshore Business, a magazine in Southwest Florida.
An author and contributor to many newspapers, magazines and online publications, co-hosted The Weekly Driver Podcast from 2017 to 2024.
