UPDATE: It turns out that as of March 9th, Ontario has put forth regulatory amendments to make HOV lane access by single drivers in PHEVs and BEVs permanent. You can read the proposal here.
However it is important to note this is still a proposal, we want this proposal to be put into effect and become law so it is still important at this point to speak up and make sure the Premier, Minister of Transportation and your local MPP hear your support to have this proposal put into effect making everything below still relevant.
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HOV lane access by electric vehicles bearing "green" licence plates in Ontario is a perk I seldom take advantage of; but when I do, I really appreciate the time savings it grants me. For some people I imagine it as somewhat life changing, giving people back an incredible amount of time. Because of the value of time it is an excellent incentive to help aid in the adoption of zero emissions vehicles in the province.
Unfortunately access is set to expire on June 30th, 2016. It was already extended once as the previous expiry was set for the same date in 2015 but we are only about two and a half months away from the deadline this time and so far not a peep has been heard from the Provincial Government.
I did inquire at the Province's booth at the Canadian International Auto Show in Toronto this February and while I could not get any concrete information I was told that the expiry date was in discussion and it might either be extended again or simply made permanent. However with the clock ticking down I think it is important for EV owners and enthusiasts to speak up on our desire to at least extend, if not make permanent, HOV lane access for the following reasons:
1) It is a ZERO cost way to encourage EV adoption, all HOV lane signs are already marked with "GREEN Permitted" so there is no additional expenditure to continue allowing access.
2) Taking away access would incur some costs to change the signage on all Ontario HOV lane highways.
3) The HOV lane access programs in California and British Columbia are continuing. Taking away HOV lane access in Ontario would put us behind as an EV friendly Province/State and remove our leadership position on championing EV adoption.
4) Our HOV lanes in Ontario are not congested, in fact they are so empty that Ontario is now working to sell access to single drivers in regular ICE cars.
5) Ontario is nowhere near our EV adoption goal. The old goal was 10K vehicles by 2015 and I now belive it is now 1 in 20 by 2020 (5%) which works out to 409,626 electric cars by 2020. We are nowhere near this goal yet and we are probably sitting somewhere around 6K total (we were somewhere just under 5K in June of 2015.
So if you support continuing to allow access by single passenger EV drivers in Ontario to the HOV lanes, lets get vocal.
The most direct way is to email or mail your local MPP. Ontario does not exactly make it easy but the below can help you figure out who to write to:
You can look up your electoral district here
And then find the email and address of your MPP for your area here
Then email or mail them this form letter
If you are more of a social media type, I have already tweeted Cathleen Wynne and Steven Del Duca (Ontario Premier and the Minster of Transportation). Retweet my tweets below!
@Kathleen_Wynne Please extend HOV lane access to EV drivers past June 30th. Ontario is nowhere near its EV adoption goals.— GT EVs (@GT_EVs) April 13, 2016
Hopefully we can put some pressure on the Government to not forget about this and extend the HOV lane access beyond June 30th.@StevenDelDuca Please extend HOV lane access to EV drivers past June 30th. Ontario is nowhere near its EV adoption goals.— GT EVs (@GT_EVs) April 13, 2016
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