NYC’s notorious yellow taxi cabs will now be green, well not literally, but green in an eco-friendly sense. 300 new hybrid cars will be added to NYC streets each month, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said on Wednesday, mentioning an agreement with car-makers who will furnish the fuel-light cabs.
NYC already has more than 1,300 hybrid taxis driving around the city, each one saving the drivers about $6,500 a year.
The Taxi and Limousine Commission voted to require all vehicles that join the taxi fleet to be hybrids by October 1st. The only exception is for cabs specially equipped for the handicapped.
Nissan Motors will supply 200 of its Altima hybrids per month. General Motors will offer 50 Chevrolet Malibu hybrids, while Ford Motors promised 50 of its Escape hybrids.
That’s 90 more cars per month than the Taxi and Limousine Commission had said were needed to meet its goals. The hope is that by 2012, the entire taxi fleet will be all-hybrid or a mix of a few other cars with similar mile-per-gallon classification.
Hybrids are in especially high demand due to soaring gas prices making their production one of the brightest markets for automobile companies, and New York City is not alone in emphasizing taxis.
Ford says San Francisco put its first Escape hybrid taxi on the streets in 2005, followed by other cities, including Chicago. New York City’s turn to hybrids will hopefully prove influential.
This will send a key motion to automakers to gear up their efforts to supply millions of hybrids, not just to fleets but also to general consumers in the near future!
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