Taxi fleet owners Thursday petitioned the Bloomberg administration for a temporary reprieve for the roomy stretch Crown Victoria cabs - the workhorse that’s dominated the streets for a decade.
The city’s green mandate requiring cabs get at least 25 miles per gallon after October of this year, and 30 miles per gallon after next October, will force fleets to buy more expensive taxis with less leg room, reliability and safety than the tanklike Crown Vics, the fleet owners griped at a Taxi and Limousine Commission hearing.
The list of hybrid models that the city has approved for the pollution-reducing initiative include several SUVs.
Starting in October, all new cabs put on the road must meet the fuel efficiency standard. The entire 13,237 fleet should meet the benchmark by 2012, TLC Commissioner Matthew Daus said. Fleet owners want the start date postponed until a suitable replacement for the Crown Vic is put on the market. If the request is granted, Ford will continue making Crown Vics, they said.
There’s no data supporting claims the hybrid models are less reliable or safe, adding they are popular with passengers and cabbies, who save money on gasoline, Daus said.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
f.p 05.17.08 at 9:04 am
I think the TLC should get a deal with Toyota to subsidize the prices of Hybrid Camry so there is some incentive for the fleet owners to swap out the old crown vics!
jon 05.18.08 at 9:04 am
that would b great for toyota to get a contract, it would lower the prices, but there’s one problem. Toyota is the one stalling they don’t want people to associate their number 1 selling family car as a taxi. So until it stops being a family car, that could happen. maybe toyota could reform a body style just for NYC taxi’s, then it wouldn’t hurt their family car image..
sb 05.27.08 at 12:58 am
…too late, i have already seen several Taxi Camrys on the street.