NEW YORK -- The city's fleet of yellow cabs will go entirely hybrid within five years, and all its vehicles for hire will have to meet new emissions and mileage standards by next year, Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced Tuesday.

Today, there are just 375 fuel-efficient hybrid vehicles among the 13,000 taxis rolling on city streets. That number will increase to 1,000 by October 2008 and will grow by about 20 percent each year until 2012, when every yellow cab will be a hybrid.

Hybrid vehicles run on a combination of gasoline and electricity, emitting less exhaust and achieving higher gas mileage per gallon. Changing over the fleet is part of Bloomberg's wider sustainability plan for the city, which includes the goal of a 30 percent reduction in carbon emissions by 2030.

"There's an awful lot of taxicabs on the streets of New York City obviously, so it makes a real big difference," Bloomberg said. "These cars just sit there in traffic sometimes, belching fumes; this does a lot less. It's a lot better for all of us."

The hybrids that have been successfully tested in the city's taxi fleet over the past 18 months include the Toyota Prius, the Toyota Highlander Hybrid, the Lexus RX 400h and the Ford Escape.

Bloomberg made the announcement on NBC's "Today" show. In addition, Yahoo Inc. said it would donate 10 hybrid Ford Escape taxis, which get 36 miles per gallon.

The standard yellow cab vehicle is the Ford Crown Victoria, which gets 14 miles per gallon.

Besides making the yellow cab brigade entirely green within five years, the city will require all new vehicles entering the fleet after October 2008 to achieve a minimum of 25 miles per gallon. A year later, all new vehicles must get 30 miles per gallon and must be hybrid.

City officials said the new standards, when fully implemented, are expected to reduce carbon emissions by more than 200,000 tons per year.

Hybrid vehicles are typically more expensive, but the city said the increase in fuel efficiency will save taxi operators more than $10,000 per year.


http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newyork/ny-bc-ny--greentaxis0522may22,0,2143422.story?coll=ny-region-apnewyork%3Cbr%3E

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This is an excellent idea.

Get rid of those frickin' gas guzzlin' Crown Vics.

This is particularly great because hybrids actually get better mileage in the city. Prius's getting 60 mpg's city compared to Crown Vic's 14 mpg. Yeah, that's a tough one.

Plus, a Prius is more compact for the NYC streets and much cooler and fun to drive in.

Bring in the Camry Hybrids too. :thumbup:

The Prius is too small for a taxi. I find some of those Crown Vics to be quite cramped when you add the "cage" in the back.

The Escape hybrids would be nice as they are more gas efficient than the RX/Highlander. Also, there is a lot more room in the back, especially for tourists that have a lot of luggage or shopping bags.

Cool idea. Hopefully, it works out...

Hmm...the idea of saving gasoline and reducing air polluton is obviously good.

But from a customer's stand point, wouldn't a Prius be too small?

I guess it works out from a business stand point though.

The high MPG sure is good news for the taxi company and drivers.

A penny saved is a penny earned.

A Prius actually doesn't have much less space than a Crown Vic really.
The Prius has a midsize interior that is plenty for a couple of passengers and a hatchback for luggage. Should fit most needs.

The benefits far outweight any downsides.

You know, on one hand the Prius is really small, and seemingly too small for the taxi, especially when compared to Crown Vic. However, if you think about it, most of the taxi cabs in NYC are carrying one passenger at a time, with no luggage, just someone trying to get from point A to point B, so there's no reason not to use a fuel efficient compact vehicle for that purpose.

Prius should be fine except maybe for an airport taxi - I want an S-class LWB for that LOL ;)

The Prius is too small for a taxi. I find some of those Crown Vics to be quite cramped when you add the "cage" in the back.

The Escape hybrids would be nice as they are more gas efficient than the RX/Highlander. Also, there is a lot more room in the back, especially for tourists that have a lot of luggage or shopping bags.

Cool idea. Hopefully, it works out...

I've been seeing the Escape Hybrid taxis all over the city lately. I keep seeing more and more of them.. seems like the trend to me. :thumbup:

these hybrids were real efficient in NYC :egads:

http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/7/2007/01/medium_bull%20taxi.jpg

Niceee! Taxi drivers can actually start spending money on food instead of gas.

The Prius is too small for a taxi. I find some of those Crown Vics to be quite cramped when you add the "cage" in the back.

Vancouver has this all-taxis-to-be-hybrid thing too, except I think ours is for 2010 (olympics and all)

We actually have a massive number of Prius taxis, deffinately more than any other type (yea, even more than the crown vics) ... but I don't think our taxis have any 'cage' aspect :uh: ... i'm going to assume you're referring to some kind of divider between you and the driver, yea we don't have that

Prius should be fine except maybe for an airport taxi - I want an S-class LWB for that LOL ;)

lol... except when you look around you, most of our airport taxis are Priuses anyway. If not, then Corolla or Camry. I think you need to take the airport limo :D. That's assuming you don't mind a Town Car.

The Prius is too small for a taxi. I find some of those Crown Vics to be quite cramped when you add the "cage" in the back.


heh. we don't have the dividers here. We even have Corolla taxis!

The Prius is too small for a taxi. I find some of those Crown Vics to be quite cramped when you add the "cage" in the back.

The Escape hybrids would be nice as they are more gas efficient than the RX/Highlander. Also, there is a lot more room in the back, especially for tourists that have a lot of luggage or shopping bags.

Cool idea. Hopefully, it works out...

Yes the Prius is too small. The Camry Hybrid gets well over 30mpg in the City which is what the new standard will be and is roomier especially for rear passengers.

Yes the Prius is too small. The Camry Hybrid gets well over 30mpg in the City which is what the new standard will be and is roomier especially for rear passengers.
It's just wider so it's good if there are 3 in the back. Otherwise, it's mostly 1 or 2 passengers and the Prius works fine especially since you're always on the road except for refuelling (both the car and the driver).