New York City’s Green Taxi Update
The green taxi battle continues in the Big Apple. The taxi drivers sued the city over the mandate to upgrade their fleets. The city changed their stance, instead offering financial incentives for the taxis to switch over to hybrids. Still, the taxi companies sue, claiming it is the equivalent of a mandate.
“The Bloomberg administration first tried to shift the city’s 13,000-car taxi fleet to hybrid when it passed rules in late 2007—to take effect in October 2008—mandating that new yellow cabs be either wheelchair accessible or achieve a 25 miles per gallon standard in 2008, and achieve a 30 mpg standard in 2009. Since yellow cabs must be retired after three to five years’ service, this mandate would have essentially created an all-hybrid fleet by 2012.”
I must say, I think the laws the city are creating are fair and progressive. New York would shine as an entirely hybrid taxi fleet in a few years. It would set an example for cities around the world and would also truly help clean up NYC.
I hope the laws get through and the taxi fleets are forced to innovate and figure out more efficient ways to profit.
*image source: therawfeed.com
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“I hope the laws get through and the taxi fleets are forced to innovate and figure out more efficient ways to profit.”
Is this a joke? I always pegged you for some type of libertarian.
Why would you want to force people to do anything like that? The companies that want to upgrade their fleet should have every freedom to do so, the companies that do not want to should not be forced.
Do you really believe this or are you just looking for a comment=)
Troy
“Forced” was a poor choice of words. What I meant is that I support the laws that are incentive based. By “forced”, I meant that the incentives will drive companies to improve and thus “force” competitors who do not upgrade to truly weigh their options.
There is always a need to improve society and in limited option markets the consumer cannot always drive innovation. If I had the equal option to choose between a regular taxi and a hybrid taxi, I would choose the hybrid every time. However, taxis in New York rarely work like that. You take the first one that drives by (or even the one that pulls up in the taxi line) because availability is the most valuable asset of a taxi in NYC, not any other option. But, the marginal benifit of hybrid taxis will pay off over time and it is something the government should incentivize to stimulate growth for.
The taxi companies in NYC are cannot be suffering. I can think of 10 ways off the top of my head where they could scrape more profit out of their billboard and marketing businesses. Their competition is intense, but their demand is high. Hybrid opportunities could drive business just as much as people worry that it could hamper it.
Hybrid is only the beginning. We need to get there now, then move on. NYC could be an excellent example for other cities to follow with fleets of hybrids. I agree that incentives and marketing opportunities should be able to fund this, and greening fleets should be a priority for companies that are in the business of polluting.