Psyched for Hybrid Taxis? Thank Bklyn Councilman.
As Mayor Bloomberg announced yesterday, over the next five years the city will require owners of the yellow NYC taxi fleet to replace their vehicles—all 13,000 of them—with eco-friendly hybrids. The change would reduce emissions by 50 percent over the next 10 years and create the cleanest fleet of taxis in the nation, but Bloomie…
As Mayor Bloomberg announced yesterday, over the next five years the city will require owners of the yellow NYC taxi fleet to replace their vehicles—all 13,000 of them—with eco-friendly hybrids. The change would reduce emissions by 50 percent over the next 10 years and create the cleanest fleet of taxis in the nation, but Bloomie certainly can’t take all the credit: The push to hybridize the city’s cabs has been Brooklynite David Yassky’s pet project since his first days as a member of the City Council. He was the one who pushed to get the first 81 hybrid cabs on the street in 2003 and helped bring in another 250 two years ago. It wasn’t an easy road: The Taxi Commission had thwarted every one of Yassky’s attempts to get more hybrids in the fleet, until now. Now that Bloomberg’s behind the plan, it is more likely to succeed—but the City Council and the taxi industry folks haven’t gotten their hands on it yet, and that could end up changing the final legislation. What do you think about the new push for hybrids?
Hail the Yassky Cab: All NYC Taxis to be Hybrid by 2012 [Streetsblog]
Mayor’s New Environment Plan Is Hailed [NY Sun]
The Road From Yellow to Green Taxis [NYT’s Empire Zone]
Photo by atomicshark.
I think it is great idea and much more effective for pollutionthan ‘congestion pricing’.
Now if would add a $4 surcharge to each fare in midtown – I’d even agree with congestion pricing for private cars.
Although this is great – can we also get the bigger monster to go hybrid – the ‘black cars’, limos, whatever you want to call them that I think are the biggest cause of traffic problems in midtown.
Then all those gov’t permit parking permits … or is that too much to ask?