The US state of Virginia has radically changed which cars are eligible to use high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes.
October 28, 2019
Read time: 1 min
Most of the 16,000 vehicles which carry clean special fuel number plates can no longer use HOV lanes without three or more occupants (HOV 3+).
The Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles says:
https://www.dmv.virginia.gov/vehicles/#cleanspecialfuel.asp plug-in and electric vehicles such as the Audi A3 e-tron and BMW i3 Sedan still qualify for the privilege.
Additionally, the 1747 Virginia Department of Transportation is to convert HOV lanes on Interstate 395 in northern Virginia to 8217 Express lanes in a move which will require all vehicles except motorcycles and buses to have a properly mounted E-ZPass or E-ZPass Flex. Vehicles bearing a clean special number plate can access the 8217 Express Lanes with a standard E-ZPass or can travel toll-free with an E-ZPass Flex if they meet the HOV 3+ requirement.
E-ZPass and E-ZPass Flex transponders are available at:
https://www.ezpassva.com and at https://www.dmv.virginia.gov/general/#mobileoperations.htmlDMV customer service centres. In addition, E-Z Pass On the Go may be obtained at DMV 2 Go mobile customer service centres.
Bird is to roll out an app feature which allows people to report poorly parked or damaged electric scooters to the company.
It is an attempt to solve one of the biggest bugbears surrounding the deployment of scooters and dockless bikes – the issue of what happens when users abandon or abuse the vehicles.
Bird says the app’s new ‘community mode’ will improve parking and safety in the cities where it operates, such as Portland and Salt Lake City.
The company will use reports to reposition poorly parked e-
Chinese bus manufacturer Yin Long intends to produce electric buses at Ikarbus’ factory in Serbia by the end of the year, according to a report by SeeNews.
Yin Long acquired Ikarbus through its subsidiary Lanzhou Guangdong New Energy Automobile, and intends to hire 200 employees at the factory and use it as a hub to expand its business.
The factory is in the city of Belgrade. Ikarbus produces low-floor and articulated city buses as well as intercity buses.
FEMA, the Federation of European Motorcycle Associations, has produced a special newsletter devoted to powered two-wheelers and ITS, by opening for the first time its pages to a panel of experts from across the field: top researchers in behavioural science and safety systems, members of the motorcycle industry, and officials from the European Commission in charge of transport and information technology. Together, they provide an in-depth insight to the best way forward to bring about a safer traffic environ
Ertico – ITS Europe is calling for session proposals and papers for the 14th ITS European Congress, which takes place in Lisbon, Portugal on 18-20 May 2020. Themed ‘ITS: The Game Changer’, the Congress will look in particular at data, focusing on areas such as connected and automated mobility, and new mobility services, as well as transport network design and operations.
A welcome message from European Commissioner for Transport, Violeta Bulc, explains: “The Congress will also specifically look at other to