Hybrid taxis hit NYC streets; fuel costs slashed
It's been more than a year since NYC officials allowed cab companies purchase hybrid vehicles. But now New York City pedestrians are hailing down yellow Accords, Civics and Highlanders with hybrid powertrains. A couple of ambitious taxi drivers even splurged for Lexus RX440h models for more than $50,000 each. They could have bought four Ford Crown Vics for that price. The rules are different for these Lexus cabs, however. No food or drink, and there isn't a glass partition. Instead, a security camera gives the driver a little peace of mind. One of the RX owners says his daily gas expenses dropped from $65 down to $20, but admits he pays more in insurance.
[Source: Annie Karni / New York Sun]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Ari Kukkonen 2:03PM (2/03/2007)
I wonder if daily gas cost is slashed also because they need to say no to more customers.
And which is the comparison, Lexus vs ????
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Chris G 3:10PM (2/03/2007)
Shouldnt a car blog that focuses on alternative energy vehichles and hybrids know that its the 400h and not the 440h.....
This just goes to show you how people are so quick to get a blog entry up that they refuse to spend 5 seconds checking what they just wrote.
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Chris M 3:28PM (2/03/2007)
They will find lower maintenance bills as well as lower fuel costs!
New York City is absurdly restrictive and controlling of its taxi fleet. They refused to allow hybrids for years, long after hybrids proved their worth elsewhere. They still won't allow the Toyota Prius to be used, claiming it is "too small", ignoring all the Prius taxis used successfuly in other major cities.
Control freak government - yet another reason why I'm glad I don't live in NYC.
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Tim 10:04PM (2/03/2007)
I think that "control freak" comes with extreme population density and concentrated international diversity. “Different strokes for different folks” is not ALWAYS a good thing. NYC is one such example.
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Peter 9:17PM (2/03/2007)
Good to know hybrid taxis are taking off. It's essentially the ideal application for hybrids -- cars that put on tons of miles in a short time and spend a large amount of time idling or in stop and go city traffic.
Now if we could just get the police to start adopting them.
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LaughingTooHard 1:27AM (2/05/2007)
While I am impressed with Taxi cabs buying hybrids shouldn't the people paying for ride be a teensy bit peev'd the drivers don't care about the environment one bit. Hybrids and reduced costs (if there are any) are nothing more than bigger profits for them in the long run.
Quote from the NYC Council findings on Hybrids:
"These vehicles are made even more attractive by the fact that their purchasers would be eligible for significant potential Federal tax incentives that total, in some instances, more than $6,000. The TLC’s preliminary analysis finds that all 2006 hybrid models eligible for taxi use, except for the Lexus RX 400H, provide overall net savings to the driver compared to traditional Ford Crown Victoria Stretch. (See Table 4 of Attachment A.)"
So our intrepid driver is pretty smart(re:sarcasm) for buying the Lexus, in spite of the TLC says.
http://webdocs.nyccouncil.info/attachments/69594.htm?CFID=1881957&CFTOKEN=70806307#_ftn15
Thanks for showing us what people actually care about when most buy a hybrid, themselves. As for me, I will continue to laugh when I see them and flag down a Crown Vic instead just to thumb my nose at the smug hacks. At least I know I am not paying for the gas guzzling luxury car they have at home.
Best of all I can't wait to see how long they last on NYC streets at 50K per year. Penny wise, pound foolish.
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Chris G. 6:35AM (2/05/2007)
How about a Bluetec Mercedes-Benz E320? They cost as much as the Lexus hybrids, probably get better mileage, and diesel MB taxis are everywhere in Germany, so they're proven.
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john riley 8:28AM (2/05/2007)
Re #6, Seems to me that if these hybrid cabs are burning less gas, that is all to the good for the air quality in NYC. If they get money from subsidies, well, that is the POINT of subsidies; give people money to encourage behavior that presumably has some public benefit.
As stop and go as NYC traffic is, it looks like an ideal application for hybrids to me.
Re diesels, I am not sure even the bluTec diesels currently meet all 50 states' rules, including NY. Plus, the fact that hybids can just shut off when stopped, seems like an advantage over diesels.
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Karkus 10:54AM (2/05/2007)
Re #6
Hmmm... let's see...at first, the hybrid haters criticized hybrids for not making economic sense. After that myth was dispelled for popular hybrids like the Prius and Civic (see 2006 Consumer Reports and Intellichoice studies), all the sudden we get people criticizing hybrids for being TOO profitable ?!?
Shouldn't we all be happy that people ARE buying more hybrids (or any other clean, high mileage car, whatever the technology) to make our air cleaner and reduce oil dependence ? Why do you care what their motivation is?
You may also want to google the experiences of Andrew Grant in Vancouver, British Columbia. He put over 255,000 miles on a 2001 Prius with no hybrid maintenance issues - in fact, Toyota asked for it back (to study it) and gave him a new one, which is again racking up the miles and proving that hybrid are great as taxis.
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Benson Leung 4:56PM (2/05/2007)
When I was in New York just a few weeks back, I spotted a Camry Hybrid taxi cab.
To me, the Camry makes a lot more sense than a bigger SUV hybrid like the RX400h. It's not a big compromise in terms of cargo space compared to the Crown Vic, and should probably allow for twice the fuel economy (41 MPG city for the Camry versus 17 MPG for the Crown Vic).
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