New York’s Yellow Cabs Go Green

NEW YORK — For New York City’s fleet of taxis, the future is looking brighter, cleaner and more efficient. On Nov. 10, six Ford Escape hybrids became part of the city’s taxi fleet. City officials say the entire fleet of about 13,000 taxis may be converted to gas-electric hybrids within five years.

By switching between an electric motor and a gas motor, Hybrid vehicles create fewer exhaust fumes that pollute the environment and use less gasoline than a regular car. The new hybrid taxis can get 36 miles per gallon in city driving, and close to 500 miles per tank of gas.

At a promotional event for the hybrid taxis release, held on the roof-top of the Westside Manhattan Auto Group, CEO of Ford Motor Co. Bill Ford said, “Hybrids save our customers money at the pump, and they reduce America’s dependence on foreign oil.”

“We’re headed toward a world where cars will be smarter, safer, and more fuel-efficient, like the hybrids,” said Ford.

Jack Hidary, chair of the Coalition Advocating for Smart Transportation, said, “New York City is now the first major city to deploy hybrid cabs on a regular basis.” The coalition consists of health, civic and environmental organizations that have led the way in the hybrid taxi effort.

In September, the city’s Taxi and Limousine Board of Commissioners voted to approve new vehicle specifications that would allow, for the first time, hybrid-electric vehicles to be used as yellow taxicabs. The vote followed a presentation of a cost-benefit analysis of the six currently available hybrid-electric models, and a public hearing on the proposed specifications that included supportive testimony from a number of taxi industry leaders and prominent environmental organizations.

The cost/benefit overview indicated a per-vehicle cost savings of as much as $5,000 in estimated fuel costs over the course of a year.

On the roof-top, New York City Council member David Yassky, a long-time proponent of using hybrid vehicles for taxi cabs, said, “When I first proposed alternative-fuel cars be used as cabs three years ago, hybrids were just beginning to reach the marketplace... but now—with this new technology available and affordable, and with our laws in place to allow these cars to be cabs—there is no good reason to keep hybrids out of the taxi fleet.”

In September, Taxi and Limousine Commissioner Matthew W. Daus said, “The fact that any [yellow taxi] owner can now choose to replace their retiring taxicabs with cleaner and more economical hybrid-electric vehicles will both yield environmental benefits and save them money at the gas pump.”

Daus also said the vehicles are made even more attractive by the fact that their purchasers will be eligible for potential State and Federal tax incentives that total, in some cases, more than $6,000.

The Detroit-based Ford Motor Company, the only American auto company to produce hybrid vehicles and the first to offer an SUV hybrid, recently said it is planning to boost global production of more fuel-efficient vehicles tenfold to 250,000 a year by 2010. The No. 2 U.S. automaker has doubled its hybrid vehicle team even as it is laying off staff in other departments. Ford currently offers two hybrid models, the Escape and the Mercury Mariner. The company will offer hybrid capability in half of its models by 2010.

With additional reporting by Reuters and Tim McDevitt, Epoch Times New York Staff