Smooth Commuting in My Prius

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• Cars

Location

Project Started On

Car Pool Lane free access

My daughter who was pushing me to be true to my politics and ex-partner who had just sold his fancy sports car to buy a Prius. I love speed so that motivated me.

First and foremost, to do my part in reducing C02 emissions and global warming. Secondly, to pay less money for gas and to reduce dependence on foreign oil. Finally, to be able to drive in the carpool lane when I'm the only driver.

The whole registration process to get the carpool lane sticker turned out to be a huge hassle. I bought my Prius from Toyota of Berkeley in late May 2006. They were putting out the big hype that I needed to buy a used car on the lot because if I waited for a new model, I might lose out on the car pool lane stickers. The California governor had limited their distribution and was threatening to cut these off soon. So I bought a used model before taking off to Europe for 5 weeks. When I returned, I found out the dealer had lose the registration slip and hadn't processed the registration yet. So I still couldn't get the car pool lane sticker after all! Finally I pressured the dealership and went to DMV myself. Altogether this process took about 8 weeks, but that was also because i was out of the country for 5.

Yes, it was all worth it. My friends are definitely envious of my gas mileage. My commute to work is effortless thanks to the carpool lane access.

Unfortunately no more carpool stickers are being distributed. I'd encourage everyone to buy a new Prius, especially since the prices have dropped considerably.

Someday I'd love to put solar panels in a home I live in, but where i live now is too small.
I'm taking my dog to a homeopathic vet instead of making him endure steroid shots and antiobiotics. Does that count?