NEW YORK—New York City may have a reputation for bad drivers and dirty streets, but it has decided to clean up its act in one respect: The city is requiring that its entire yellow taxicab fleet convert to fuel-efficient vehicles by 2012.
It is part of Mayor Michael Bloomberg's PlaNYC, a set of 127 environmentally-oriented proposals to help reduce the city's greenhouse emissions by 30 percent by the year 2030. "Implementing tougher standards for the more than 13,000 taxis in this city will provide the same clean air benefits as removing 32,000 privately owned cars from our streets, which will significantly reduce the air pollution that causes childhood asthma," said Bloomberg in a press release.
Today, most of the city's taxicabs are Ford Crown Victorias. They are roomy and have great horsepower, but they only get 14 mpg (miles per gallon). By October 2009, all new cabs entering the fleet must get 30 mpg, cutting carbon emissions by more than half. While the plan does not specifically require that the new cars be hybrids—which run on both gasoline and electricity—hybrid vehicles are currently the only ones that meet the city's tough mileage and emissions standards.
The city experimented over the last 18 months by introducing 375 hybrid cabs into the fleet. More than satisfied with the results, the city will be calling for 4,000 hybrid cabs by 2009, and 13,000 (the entire fleet) by 2012.
A decade ago, New York City passed a law requiring that taxis be replaced by new vehicles every three to five years in order to keep the fleet in top condition. In order to follow the mayor's plan, taxis will now be replaced by more fuel-efficient taxis as part of the normal renewal cycle. Within five years—2012—all the taxis on the road today will have been replaced.
Drivers lease the cars, usually by the week, paying a leasing fee. They also must pay for gas. While hybrid vehicles cost about 20 percent more, which could raise leasing costs, they will save drivers gas money—as much as $10,000 a year, by the mayor's estimate.
Ideally, the plan will be good for the air and the pocketbook, and taxi drivers are generally happy with the plan.
Cecil Hows, who has been driving cabs in New York since 1984, welcomes the change. "It's a really good idea. And it'll save me money, too."
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