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Pan Am Games HOV lane issues with the Tesla Model S

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Can you share the link? Sorry...what is HTA?
HTA= Highway Traffic Act which governs vehicle laws in Ontario. The links that mknox provided have the easier to understand info but I believe this page is the current official act that is relevant to HOV lanes.

The relevant part, at least for the temporary HOV lanes, is:

Use of high occupancy vehicle lanes during the Games period

7. Despite section 2, during the Games period,no person shall operate a motor vehicle or a commercial motor vehicle in a high occupancy vehicle lane on a part of the King’s Highway described in Schedule A, D, E, F or G unless one of the following circumstances exists:

...

9. The person is operating a motor vehicle to which are attached valid number plates that,
i. are issued by the Ministry,
ii. have green lettering on a white background, and
iii. display the words “GREEN VEHICLE” or “VÉHICULE ÉCOLOGIQUE”.
As we discussed in another thread, the cop could potentially ding you if you are using licence plate holders, like the Tesla ones, that block the words "Green Vehicle", at least on the rear plate (for that matter it seems that technically even the clear plastic covers are illegal). And if you didn't apply the front plate then you are running that risk as well.

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Some provincial highways were "downloaded" to the municipalities. The one that always makes me laugh is the former provincial Hwy 7 through the Woodbridge area. The town named it "Highway 7". There are sections of that road that still are under provincial control as Hwy 7.
Although I don't think the road signs generally use the crown sign for Hwy 7, they use the trapezoid, don't they?
 
Correct for all the "downloaded" parts of Hwy 7.

Right, because those sections are now Regional Road 7, and through the Woodbridge area they gave it a street name of "Highway 7". That's how you tell the difference.

King's Highway Sign example:

Highway.jpg


Regional or County Road sign example:

Region.png
 
I think they should have just opened all HOV lanes to green license plates to avoid any confusion. According to the MTO's website, there are only 3,796 vehicles with them anyway, and not all of them are located in the GTA (a majority are, of course, but they don't all drive the HOV routes all the time).

If *WE* are confused (and let's face it, this group is more informed than the general public), then how does one expect others not to be? Especially when it comes to municipal boundaries and which "highways" are owned by whom. Most folks just assume any limited access highway is provincial or pay little attention to geographic boundaries.

The media seems to be going with the "green plates are admitted" while any official documents I've read online say what the consensus here is - only on provincial highways.

Oh, and for those thinking that just opening up all lanes will improve traffic for everyone, there is a fundamental rule in traffic planning: building more capacity just makes people drive more and increases congestion. See below for examples:

http://www.wired.com/2014/06/wuwt-traffic-induced-demand/

The of traffic: building new roads just makes people drive more - Vox

More Roads May Pave The Way To More Traffic : NPR
 
There are, however, HOV lanes on some city streets which have never been open to Green Plates, so there could already be some confusion.
I agree - this is no then when HOV lanes first came into existence in the GTA - we have HOV lanes on the 400 series highways like the 404, 403, QEW, etc that we can use and HOV lanes on city streets like Yonge, Eglinton, etc that we can't use and that may follow different rules regarding numbers of passengers. It really is no different except there are a lot more HOV lanes for the PanAm games.
 
So the official word from the Ministry of Transportation is the following, regarding Green vehicles.

All 400 series highways permit the use of Green vehicles in HOV lanes. Also includes the QEW.
The Don Valley Parking lot, the Gardiner and Lakeshore are no Go zones for Green vehicles, unfortunately.
However, with all the confusion as to which highway is provincial and city operated, my guess is that if you do decide to drive the forbidden roads just mentioned, you will probably get away with it anyway.
I would say go for it. Even the police probably aren't sure and if they are, they will just tell you and off you go. No ticket or fine.

Also, as a side note, there is a fine of $75.00 for using the DVP, Gardiner and Lakeshore in HOV lanes with one person, but no demerit points for non green plated cars whereas the 400 series HOV lanes come with a fine of $110.00 and 3 demerit points for non Green plate violators, and believe me, there are a lot of violators.
 
Also, as a side note, there is a fine of $75.00 for using the DVP, Gardiner and Lakeshore in HOV lanes with one person, but no demerit points for non green plated cars whereas the 400 series HOV lanes come with a fine of $110.00 and 3 demerit points for non Green plate violators, and believe me, there are a lot of violators.

Yeah, that one's a real head-scratcher for me. That's like saying you get demerit points for speeding on the 401 but no points for speeding on the DVP. At least if you do chance it and get caught in City HOV lanes, there's no points to affect your insurance rates. Although I wonder if the ticket itself is considered a moving violation or if it is more like a parking ticket?

On a related note, man are people steamed about these lanes. Numerous news articles, the Mayor stepping in and so forth.
 
Drove from Airport to Mavis along the 401 yesterday, wow are there lots of signs about the HOV lane, and every second one indicates "Green Allowed", more notice about green plates than other info. Seems like they are trying to play the green card by saying Toronto is friendly and encourages "Green". And yeah, there were a lot of violators.
 
Here in California, the only rationale for HOV lanes is to reduce vehicle emissions (the air quality board is in charge of the program), so motorcycles and EVs are allowed. If the rationale is to reduce congestion, wouldn't it be better to just have the extra lane rather than a special HOV lane?
 
Here in California, the only rationale for HOV lanes is to reduce vehicle emissions (the air quality board is in charge of the program), so motorcycles and EVs are allowed. If the rationale is to reduce congestion, wouldn't it be better to just have the extra lane rather than a special HOV lane?

I think that's part of the equation here in Ontario too. Reduce the total number of cars and you accomplish a number of things: reduced congestion, reduced emissions, less cars trying to park at work and so forth.

Problem is, with exceptions to the 2 or 3 passenger rule for things like EVs, the Pan Am Games and such, it waters down this goal. At the end of the day, you're right in that it would probably be better to simply open up all the lanes. As I mentioned above, it's probably better to think of them as "priority lanes" awarded to whomever the government feels charitable towards, at the expense of all other drivers.
 
I am printing this image and mounting it in my rear passenger window. It may save me a few dirty looks when others understand I am not just a solo jerk illegally using the HOV.

Instead, I am a green solo jerk allowed to use the HOV.

(Yes, I know this doesn't apply to municipal roads).
 

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Here in California, the only rationale for HOV lanes is to reduce vehicle emissions (the air quality board is in charge of the program), so motorcycles and EVs are allowed. If the rationale is to reduce congestion, wouldn't it be better to just have the extra lane rather than a special HOV lane?

Not really, because if you measure congestion or lack of as pax/min, on a regular day your HOV lane (with a Large proportion of multi occupancy vehicles, and not just EVs) may carry as much as the rest of a 3-4 lane highway combined if the speed differential is moderate.
The pipe will be full regardless so trying to fill it with fixed sized things that have more payload makes sense (and that may as a small side effect reduce the total amount of things) .

From an emissions perspective it makes sense to put all EVs on the most congested stop and go slow lanes, and let those ICEs get their highway Mpg at a steady 55 mph. ^_^ (assuming that EV juice source is significantly clean)
 
HOV Lanes should be permanent as long as EV are allowed to use it. :tongue:Dreaming. Took me a cool 20 min to go downtown.

When you say "downtown", did you use the DVP or Gardiner/Lakeshore? If so, that's a no-no since EVs aren't allowed in those HOV lanes.


By the way how did this P85 get break lights on the top. I'm jealous :love:

Are you referring to the CHMSL strip along the top of the rear glass? All Model S cars have that there.

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From an emissions perspective it makes sense to put all EVs on the most congested stop and go slow lanes, and let those ICEs get their highway Mpg at a steady 55 mph. ^_^ (assuming that EV juice source is significantly clean)

I've always thought that myself.
 
When you say "downtown", did you use the DVP or Gardiner/Lakeshore? If so, that's a no-no since EVs aren't allowed in those HOV lanes.
I used the DVP. Every other Tesla I saw was on it and I was feeling like a rebel.:cool:



Are you referring to the CHMSL strip along the top of the rear glass? All Model S cars have that there.
Thanks. I realized that today. It looks cool. I guess I'm so use to admiring the car from the frontfront.