Hybrid owners getting parking perks
by USA Today on Jan. 09, 2009, under Edge, Nation/World
2010 model Ford Fusion Hybrid will get 41 city miles per gallon and 36 mpg on highways,
Many hybrid car owners, who often get tax credits and special use of HOV lanes, are getting another perk: parking privileges.
An increasing number of offices, hotels and others are giving drivers of hybrids free or reduced-cost parking or reserved spots closer to entrances, similar to those for the disabled or for pregnant women. They’re following at least a dozen cities, which introduced such perks in 2004.
“It really encourages people to buy hybrids,” said Maureen Lacey of Boston University Medical Campus’ parking office. She says the medical center’s preferential first-floor parking for hybrids, begun in 2007, was so popular that in October it doubled to 100 the number of available spaces.
The perk reflects broader efforts by government and the private sector to promote energy conservation and healthier living. For example, Boston University’s medical center gives preferential parking to people who carpool.
All Kimpton hotels began offering some kind of hybrid parking benefit this year as part of its “EarthCare” program, said Steve Pinetti, Kimpton’s senior vice president of sales and marketing.
Some Starwood and Westin hotels also offer free or discounted hybrid parking.
Not everyone is happy about the special treatment.
In Fresno, Calif., some hybrid drivers annoyed fellow residents by parking for free all day in sought-after spots, said Del Estabrooke, city parking manager.
“I took a lot of complaints,” Estabrooke said, especially from people driving fuel-efficient cars. The City Council recently rescinded the 4-year-old perk.
Ferndale, Mich., addressed this concern by giving free meter parking to all cars that get at least 30 miles per gallon in city driving, as determined by federal data. Baltimore gives discounts at city-owned garages to only the most fuel-efficient hybrids.
In Washington, D.C., an apartment building that uses wind power, Gables Takoma Park, set aside 15 “preferred” hybrid parking spaces when it opened in September. The spots remain empty. Jared Gigliotti, a manager, says the complex, which also distributes pamphlets on how to save energy, is so close to the subway that “we’re getting residents with no cars at all.”
