City's Hybrid Taxi Requirment Hit With Lawsuit

Taxi fleet owners filed a lawsuit in federal court Monday to stop a fuel-efficiency mandate from going into effect October 1st, the date when all new taxis will need to be hybrid vehicles. Fleet owners' lawyers argue that only the federal government can set rules on fuel efficiency and vehicle emissions. Plus they contend that hybrid cars like the Ford Escape cannot be safely adapted into taxis because they're smaller with limited legroom for passengers, making them more vulnerable in crashes because of their proximity to the partitions. Michael Woloz, a spokesman for the group, tells the Post, "This is a tragedy in the making." Another lawyer for the group declares, "Those partitions are deathtraps." Also, they're expensive to install!