NYC's Yellow Cabs Going Green

(AP)  The city's yellow taxi fleet will go entirely hybrid within five years, Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced Tuesday.

"There's an awful lot of taxicabs on the streets of New York City," Bloomberg said. "These cars just sit there in traffic sometimes, belching fumes.

"This does a lot less. It's a lot better for all of us," he said of the hybrid plan.

Nearly 400 fuel-efficient hybrids have been tested in the city's taxi fleet over the past 18 months, with models including the Toyota Prius, the Toyota Highlander Hybrid, the Lexus RX 400h and the Ford Escape.

Under Bloomberg's plan, that number will increase to 1,000 by October 2008, then will grow by about 20 percent each year until 2012, when every yellow cab — currently numbering 13,000 — will be a hybrid.

Hybrid vehicles run on a combination of gasoline and electricity, emitting less exhaust and achieving higher gas mileage per gallon.

The standard yellow cab vehicle, the Ford Crown Victoria, gets 14 miles per gallon. In contrast, the Ford Escape taxis get 36 miles per gallon.

In addition to making the yellow cab brigade entirely green within five years, the city will require all new vehicles entering the fleet after October 2008 to achieve a minimum of 25 miles per gallon. A year later, all new vehicles must get 30 miles per gallon and be hybrid.

Bloomberg made the announcement on NBC's "Today" show.

Hybrid vehicles are typically more expensive, but the city said the increase in fuel efficiency will save taxi operators more than $10,000 per year. Yahoo Inc. said it would donate 10 hybrid Ford Escapes for the city's effort.

Shifting the taxi fleet to hybrids is part of Bloomberg's wider sustainability plan for the city, which includes a goal of a 30 percent reduction in carbon emissions by 2030. Part of the plan could include congestion pricing for drivers entering some of the busiest parts of Manhattan.

Turning over the taxi fleet by 2012 is not an impossible goal. The life of a New York City taxi is typically about three to five years; the city's Taxi and Limousine Commission requires all vehicles to be retired within a certain time frame.

Fernando Mateo, president of the New York State Federation of Taxi Drivers, an advocacy trade group, applauded the city's effort to go green.

"In the short term, they're going to have to spend more money, but in the long run they will save money," he said. "We support getting more hybrids on the road."

The government does not own the city's yellow cabs, but sells licenses to individual drivers and operators, who must purchase their own vehicles that meet the specifications of the Taxi and Limousine Commission. The agency serves as the regulating and licensing authority for all vehicles per hire in the city.

[ralan40]

The environmental equivilent to drinking a large diet soda....with a Large double pepperoni Pizza....while watching TV.


Now, Watch those pounds just melt away

[juliemd]

The streets will smell better; less like exhaust, more like sweating people...

[drtbroker]

There is a scheme called Texxi which will alleviate many if not all of these concerns.

See

www.texxi.info
www.texxi.com

Texxi will allow New Yorkers to find shared Taxi rides at times of peak demand, thus reducing the amount of CO2 emitted by vehicles. Less vehicles sitting there belching fumes, is better for everyone.

The drives can make more money, the passengers save monet, the city gets it cut, Texxi makes its money. Everyone benefits.

With Texxi there is no need for a congestion charge.

[sclaires]

Well,I can see the cab fares going up to pay for the new hybrid cars in NYC. I am glad that I don't live there and have to depend on cabs to get from place to place. Maybe Bloomberg is going to pay for the new cabs with all his money. Just a thought.

[sparks224]

Why does Michael Bloomberg hate America?

[hypnotoad72]

Sweet! My next purchase will be a hybrid car. Within 2 years.

I will buy American if the products are there. A good quality product can be more readily exported and it'd restore our nation's self-esteem too. Especially when we offshore so much to countries that clearly don't give a ***. (I won't buy Dell again and I'm grateful I never needed Apple's helpdesk "tech support"... it's more than just reading a sodding cue card in an unintelligible accent that only wastes the customers' time and company's money...)

Are we globalized or are we not? Or only when it's convenient?

[acordova1]

Does this mean that cab fares will down???

[petesis]

Very ambitious plan. Bravo for Mike Bloomberg.

[beadazzle]

This sounds like a logic answer to all cities who are large enough to run atleast one fleet of taxi's. Here in Wichita Kansas,i drove a txi for awhile,it was my own and now that our population has hit the half a million mark,and we have 3 taxi company's now,it sure wouldn't hurt for our city to do the same even tho we have good clean air most days.

There's just a couple days of the year that we get on the bad air list,but anything to turn that around sounds very good to me. I'm going to contact our city and see what we can do to help the air we breathe.

The only thing i question is that the new hybrids costing more than a car that run on gas alone. I mean if we want to change the enviroment,then why make someone pay more for a hybrid? Why not lower the price and the people would be more willing to change over faster.

Is this another case of greed by the car manufactures? Does it really cost more to make a hybrid than a gas car? Whatever comes of this,i hope it does make this earth more breathable.

[edjohn66]

Well, that is great news for GM! Good thing they have an array of hybrid cars and minivans to fill NYC's order, as well as orders from other cities that will doubtless follow suit!

OHHHHHH, wait! I forgot! GM has spent the last ten years focusing on SUVs and has yet to produce a consumer hybrid vehicle (besides the Silverado truck that gets a whopping 16 mpg). One more huge opportunity for profit, given over to Toyota. Nice job, GM!