November 14th, 2008
On Friday, the hybrid taxi cab debate seemed to be closer to resolution as Mayor Bloomberg presented a united front during the announcement which was made at Yakuel Taxi Garage.
Joining the mayor were Congressman Jerrold Nadler, Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC) Chairman Matthew W. Daus, Council Member David Yassky, Richard Kassel of the Natural Resources Defense Council, Meir Yakuel, co-owner of the Yakuel Taxi Garage and Rati Sharma, a taxicab driver.
“Last month,” said Bloomberg, “we hit a speed bump in our efforts to turn New York City’s yellow cabs green when the courts upheld an archaic law, preventing us from reducing greenhouse gases and improving air quality….By offering incentives that will encourage more taxi fleet owners to purchase hybrids, we have found another avenue to reach our goal of greening our yellow cabs, improving our air quality and reducing our carbon emissions.”
Council Member Yassky agreed, saying, “Greening the New York City taxi fleet is an absolute no-brainer. When we announced a green taxis’ rule earlier this year, New York instantly became a national leader in sustainability.”
Richard Kassel , director of the NRDC’s Clean Fuels and Vehicles Project, added, “Because they save drivers money, cut pollution on our sidewalks and reduce our dependence on oil, hybrid taxis are a win-win-win for New York City. It’s time for Washington to update its rules so the city’s hybrid taxi program can move forward.”
The problem before today’s announcement was that “there was a disconnect,” said Isabelle Silverman, an attorney with the Environmental Defense Fund. “The fleet owner doesn’t pay for the gas, the cab driver does. So the cost of the hybrid was costing the fleet owner.” The city hopes to resolve this with the incentive package that allows the fleet owner to charge more for drivers to lease a hybrid, thus making up some of the initial outlay, she said. The driver, in turn, still saves on fuel.
She also suggested that an amendment to the Clean Air Act might be another step in an environmentally conscious direction.
Rep. Nadler also said he believed that the recent court decision to block the greening of New York’s cabs was “not in keeping with the original spirit of federal environmental legislation.
“Fuel-efficient taxis don’t simply represent a pie-in-the-sky futuristic luxury for New Yorkers,” Nadler said, “but a present-day necessity which will produce a meaningful reduction in our city’s carbon emissions. ..I intend to introduce legislation in Congress to amend federal law, specifically the Clean Air Act and the Energy Policy and Conservation Act, in order to give states and localities the discretion to set stronger standards in exactly these types of circumstances.”
The new incentive program would give fleet owners the opportunity to raise the leasing fee charged to drivers of fuel efficient cars by $3 per shift, offsetting the higher cost of the hybrid. The driver, in turn, can make up the cost with fuel efficiency. The city estimates that hybrid cab drivers will see an average fuel savings of at least $15 per shift, or $5,000 a year.
The NYC incentive for taxi fleet owners is estimated to provide about $2,000 more per year, per car.
There are about 13,000 yellow cabs operating in New York City. About 1,550 of those are hybrids.
Says Silverman: “It’s great that New York City is looking for new ways to achieve the goal of a fully green taxi fleet. The combination of incentives for fleet owners, incentives for drivers and legal reform makes sense. New Yorkers cannot wait for clean air, and drivers should not have to wait to reap the benefits of lower gas bills.”
Copyright © 2008 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media
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