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The Taxi and Limousine Commission has given the okay to introduce hybrid cars as new taxi cabs, starting as soon as this fall. The six new car models, two Hondas, two Toyotas, a Lexus (!), and a Ford, will be more expensive than the old stand-by of the Crown Victoria, but they will be more fuel efficient. Commissioner Matthew Daus says the Crown Vic gets 18 miles a gallon, while the hybrids get at least 29 miles. The NY Times has a graphic that breaks down the models, their cost, fuel efficiency and more. The TLC stalled on the issue of hybrid vehicles because legroom would be compromised; most Crown Vics have about 46 inches of legroom whereas the hybrids have around 36 inches. The NY Post notes that Commissioner Daus is 5'8". Gothamist is pretty excited about the new cabs, but we can wait for the technology to remove gross bus exhaust (especially on a hot summer day)!
The TLC is also considering other ideas for its future cabs.
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there are also those two shots of a london style cab... here and here.
Hybrids are good, but please don't cancel out the fuel savings by using sport utility vehicles. They are harder to weave in and out of city traffic, harder to park, have worse steering control and are simply uglier.
The six new models are generic and look no more functional than the old ones. The Brits already perfected taxi design like the photos tien posted - easy to get in and out, plenty of legroom and can lug big stuff into it. Seems like a no-brainer to just order those.
As smart and roomy as those Brit taxis are, they aren't hybrid. This is a great message sent by NYC to the industry in addition to the obvious benefits of saving money on fuel. As for the models to choose from, the Prius would seem like the obvious choice, but there's no way it or any of the other small sedans will be able to stand up to NYC's corroded streets. I think the best choice would be the Ford Escape. It's closest in price to the Crown Vic and it would be easy to configure the interior for more leg room.
Anyone notice the Crown Vic image used by the NYTimes was actually an old Chevy Impala?
I'm more interested in leg room than the marginal environmental impact. These are great. Credit card machines in them, fold-down seats, a wheelchair ramp. If you're in a wheelchair, it would be hard stuffing into a Prius.
http://www.london-fleet.com/
you may still prefer more leg room, bob, but the impact is not marginal. those cabs are not very efficient and they are running all the time. hybrids like the prius generate electricity from braking and use it to take off so a lot of the time, they have nothing coming out of their tailpipes at all. they are perfect for stop-and-go nyc driving where the existing cabs are at their worst (definitely not even 18 mpg).
beyond legroom, luggage storage and durability, there's also repair... the existing cabs are built like tanks and relatively simple for mechanics. hybrids are much more complicated.
The london cab is actually a diesel, it also costs nearly double a crown vic, and does not have full power steering, only power assist. So it really doesn't work for NYC.
a 29MPG hybrid suv is far shorter in overall length than an 18MPG crown vic, but alas has nearly 10 inches less legroom, and IS higher and harder to get in to.
If the car companies introduce a good hybrid minivan it *could* become the perfect NYC cab. But remember, many nyc cabs are running for 20 hours a day on roads that as gothamist has pointed out, are riddled with poholes.
The vehicle needs to be tough, and insofar as SUVs are tough, hybrid SUVs may prove to be the best hybrid vehicle available right now for NYC cabs.
If you were ever wondering about driving a cab, I recently saw a postcard which led me to this website http://www.teamtaxi.com
and read in crains NY business a few weeks back that cab drivers can make over $60k a year! the guy at the garage listed on the website told me that working part time i could probably make around $35k