Just a couple of comments to make on this.

I just got back from a trip to San Francisco and saw some of the Ford Escape Hybrids that Yellow and Luxor have put on the road. I believe they're working with Ford to do field testing of the vehicle for reliability and performance.

With respect to the comment on waiting for the Camry Hybrid, there is already a comparable vehicle available - the Honda Accord Hybrid. The only drawback to the Hondas vis-a-vis the Toyotas is that the city mileage is worse than the highway mileage, so there's no substantial advantage versus something like a Chevy Malibu.

With respect to the hybrids in New York, I think the reason that people were rushing in to put them on the road is that the city is issuing a different class of medallions for the vehicles at a substantial discount to the market price for an ordinary medallion. Under normal circumstances, ie, if the vehicles are considered equally with others as part of a fleet, the hybrids are going to be considerably more expensive to purchase for the owners, who typically go after used Crown Vics from police departments and other agencies. And since owners often aren't the ones actually driving the vehicles, there is a disconnect in financial incentives -- the owner wants a cheaper vehicle, the driver wants lower operating costs.

Even so, I'm sure a peak period taxi rents to the drivers for well over $100 in NYC, so gasoline is not the primary cost the drivers are facing, though it's still a big cost.

Crown Vics also come in a variety of emissions configurations depending on the market in which they're sold - there are LEV Corwn Vics out there, though I don't think they're configured that way for NYC. But one also has to remember that once these vehicles are in the field, whether they are hybrids or not, they're still going to be maintained by the cab companies themselves, and there's a strong incentive by those companies to ignore keeping the emission systems tuned well, unless there's regulations forcing them to do otherwise.

I also think we also need to rememeber fuel CONSUMPTION in this argument. It still blows my mind that the car of choice in USA for a taxi is a V8 that gets 15mpg! Why do we need a V8 when city speed limits are 25-35mph?

"I also think we also need to rememeber fuel CONSUMPTION in this argument. It still blows my mind that the car of choice in USA for a taxi is a V8 that gets 15mpg!"

Actually, Crown Victorias are 18 city/25 highway/21 combined.

"Why do we need a V8 when city speed limits are 25-35mph?"

Well, they don't always travel at those speeds. For many drivers, the most lucrative trips are ones to the airport, which often involves going at highway speeds.

You could make the same argument for all cars, if you want to extend your logic. Why does the government allow the production of vehicles which can be driven two or three times the maximum speed limit in any state?

Crown Vics are usually chosen because they are big - so they can hold lots of people of any size, as well as lots of luggage. They're also very durable, both in terms of their drivetrain and the body itself. They're also very cheap to maintain and repair, and the fleet market supplies a steady stream of inexpensive, well-maintained used vehicles for taxi companies, primarily from police departments. Plus, police vehicles tend to have far better quality components than consumer versions of the Crown Vic.

You have to keep in mind that these vehicles are on the street around the clock, and can have 400-500,000 miles put on them over their lifetime - a lot of which is heavy city driving. Your average consumer vehicle simply isn't designed to stand up to that sort of use.

None of this means that other, more fuel-efficient vehicles couln't be designed for this kind of commercial application, but it's going to be some time before hybrids in particular are going to be made for heavy-duty use and also filter through the fleet system.

The LXII (aka "London Taxis") are now being imported into the US and they use a 2.4 liter turbodiesel which gets 24 city/28 highway. They also are designed for heavy-duty and a long life, but the upfront cost of a new one is around $50K, as opposed to $5-15K for a used Crown Vic, and about $25-30K for a new one. There's also issues with emissions from a diesel engine, which seems to be the main focus of the study mentioned in this article.

My guess is we're going to start seeing Ford putting out extended versions of the Escape and Mariner hybrids, if the field testing in San Francisco pans out in terms of durability.

Correction: London Taxis are TXIIs, not LXIIs.

right now all taxi medallions are offered through auction. these days they are going for as much as 369,000 dollars. Taxi owners don't want too many medalions issued because it will lower the value of medallions they already own.

Hybrid cabs make a LOT of sence because ethey are on the road for many hours a day. genberaly cabs are split into 2 12 hour shifts, but sometimes 43 8 hour shifts. this means that a cab is used for at least two full time jobs (80 hours a week). So one prius cab is the same as 5-10 pruis's used to get groceries and light commuting.

I am a pedicab driver. Most peopel thinkj we are some sort of touristy thing. However about half of my rides are locals. I do lots of short rides that subways can't really help with and when cabs may be unavaiable. the advantages to edicabs is

zero emitions
less energy goes into producing each cab
pedicabs stay on the road longer than taxis (25 years)
pedicabs don't ned lots of infrustructure (garages, gas stations, car washes...)
more bicycles on the street for more time encourages more people to ride bikes furthur lowering emitions and conjestion.

I want to point out I am not anti-car, but pro-progress

joseph, you're correct about durability, ease of repair, and cargo/passenger room, but if you've regularly driven or ridden to nyc airports, you'd know that highway speeds are certainly not the norm. the average is very likely under 35mph with plenty of stop and go.