Hybrid Taxis Finally Arrive in New York City
by Michael Graham Richard, Gatineau, Canada on 11.10.05
We've written about hybrid taxis many times (Grist Chats With Hybrid Taxi Driver, Popular Support for Hybrid Cabs in NYC & Hybrid Taxi Bill Passed by NY City Council), but now the speculation over whether they will be used in NYC is over and the first hybrid cabs have hit the streets. "New York City’s first hybrid taxis—a mini-fleet of six Ford Escape hybrids—officially entered operation today with a ceremony in midtown Manhattan where officials from government, advocacy groups and industry gathered for the send off. [...] According to the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission, each New York taxi averages nearly 100,000 miles of driving annually. Thus, the fuel savings for drivers and operators could reach the thousands of dollars every year, and enable hybrid taxi owners to recover the premium cost of the technology within the first year on the road."
The hybrids approved for taxi service by the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission are:
* Ford Escape / Mercury Mariner Hybrid
* Toyota Highlander
* Toyota Prius
* Honda Accord
* Honda Civic
* Lexus Rx 400h
A potential addition to the list is the Toyota Camry hybrid which should come out in about a year, along with the Nissan Altima hybrid.
::First Hybrid Taxis Take to the Streets of New York, ::Ford Escape Hybrid reporting for taxi duty in NYC, ::Hybrid cabs debut in New York, ::OZOcar - Eco-Luxury Car Service in New York
An SUV is an SUV is an SUV: road-damaging, visibility-blocking, crash-incompatible embarassments of drivable decadence—throwing in a servo (instead of running CNG, &c.) is mere turd-polishing. Sigh. Time for a nap.
David,
You are partly right and of course I would rather see sedans and that's probably the next step; but I'd rather have a 30+mpg SULEV/PZEV hydrid than a V8 15 mpg Crown Vic with emissions that are probably worse than LEV. And btw, the Escape seems to have good crash compatibility, unlike most full size SUVs.
Ugh. Those things are ugly. There's a reason minivan taxis aren't people's favorites. Why car companies haven't started to produce full-sized hybrid sedans is beyond me.
i work for yellow cab in pinellas county. in clearwater, florida. also know as metro cab . i am an owner operator of my chevy lumina as a independent contractor now wanting to make a toyota prius my new cab to be denied by yellowcab a.k.a. metro cab is there any law or info out there to help me and others thank you
Wow, I heard NYC has a couple of Lexus Rx 400h cabs in service now! Passengers aren't allowed to bring food/drink on board though. Today, Yahoo! donated a fleet of hybrid taxis to NYC. They're also Escapes though. Maybe it's American priority hybrids first?
To supplement "Anonymous'" comment, there are larger Hybrid sedans like the Toyota Camry or Lexus GS 450h. That would seem a more comparable switch for the Queen Vic, but a Prius is less intimidating when the cabbies do a quick lane change or barrel through pedestrians. :)
Minivans and SUV cabs make sense for bigger or younger groups who need to share rides and have a ton of luggage; although we used to just charter a van to cart us youngins around on trips ;)
I've never seen SUV as a cab...
Covering these types of developments is great, and obviously it is a good thing that NYC is gonna get some hybrid cabs, i've already seen a few. But you should also point out that this will be a burden on drivers, who already face huge costs when they lease their cars- drivers, mostly immigrants, usually work about 72 hrs a week and barely make $30k. The cost of the more expensive hybrid car will be passed on to the driver as a part of the lease. The TLC sets the meter fare, so its unclear whether the public will share this burden, or only take the benefits.