Planner Bill Fulton has come up with with a few interesting back of the envelope figures on congestion pricing in a recent blog post at California Planning and Development Report. California allows hybrid car owners with a sticker to use the states HOV lanes free of charge. The stickers were handed out for free, and they’ve become valuable. A hybrid car with the sticker sells for $4,000 more on the used market than one without it.
In other words, the State of California gave away to owners of 85,000 hybrid cars a carpool access sticker worth $4,000. That value ââ?¬â?? somewhere around $300 million ââ?¬â?? is now in the hands of hybrid car owners. It is not in the hands of state and regional transportation agencies that could use it for other transportation improvements.
The full post can be found here.