Green Taxis

Green Taxis are coming sooner than you might think.

New York City and San Francisco have adopted new policies to replace their existing taxi fleet with new green taxis. In New York, the "yellow" cabs are going to be completely replaced by hybrids by by 2012. The new standards will be phased in over a four-year period and will reduce the carbon emissions of New York City's taxicab and for-hire vehicle fleet by 50% during the next decade, and will also save individual operators an average of $10,000 a year in fuel costs.

NYC's "black" cars, the corporate limousine service, will also be replaced by more fuel efficient vehicles. Currently, black cars average 12-15 mph. The TLC will require fuel efficiency standards for new licensed black car vehicles of 25mpg in 2009 and 30mpg in 2010. There will be a retirement phase-in cycle that will ensure almost all vehicles associated with black car bases are more fuel-efficient by 2013. Black cars currently contribute 272,000 tons of CO2 equivalents annually, which make up 2% of the City's transportation related emissions. Switching to green cars results in more money for owners as well. Hybrid cars will save owner-operator drivers upwards of $5,000 per year in gasoline expenses - approximately 50% of their current fuel costs. These savings will allow drivers to cover, in just one year, the additional cost of purchasing a new hybrid car over the currently used Lincoln Town Car.

San Francisco is following suit by passing new legislation that will make the entire fleet of cabs "green" by 2011. Currently, about 15% of the city's cabs are either hybrids or run on compressed natural gas.

The impact of these changes are dramatic on several fronts. First, the resulting decrease in CO2 emissions is quite significant. Second, the demand for hybrid cabs will likely help improve the overall economics of producing hybrids by increasing production volume and this may end up decreasing the costs of bringing on new technologies such as lithium ion batteries. Finally, for the residents of large cities like NYC and San Francisco, there will be less ground level pollution resulting from idling cabs.