Michael Giberson
This sign puzzles me.
I assume it is intended as pro-hybrid, pro-energy conservation signal.
But the parking space designated is not particularly convenient to the store, so if it is pro-hybrid effort, it is tepid support at best. Usually there are more convenient parking spaces available, and I’ve never seen a car parked in the spot, hybrid or not.
I also assume this is a private effort on the part of the shopping center owner, and if it makes the owner feel good then who am I to object?
But just in case the idea might spread, I feel compelled to point out that these technology-based resource allocation devices are inefficient ways to pursue policy goals.
[Near 50th and Indiana Ave., Lubbock, Texas.]
So it only gets used if the lot is close to full; if 30 cars are going to be driving around looking for parking, we can make sure one less of them is a hybrid, and one more is … well, probably a bigger user of gas.
I haven’t owned a car in 5 years, but the last car I did own got 40 miles to the gallon, and wasn’t a hybrid. Which I assume is your point, but in anecdote form.
If you see something this weird done publicly by a business, it is better than even money there is a tax break involved somewhere they are trying to cash in on.