Comments on: Taxi drivers bemoan hybrid demands

By: Jessica

Jessica — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 01:48:31 +0000

Frankly, Commission mandates don’t work out well for anyone.

I love StationStops’ comment re the importance of design. Rethinking this thing from the beginning would be the ideal solution, and if this were a private system, it wouldn’t be overrun with hasty political decisions like this one.

Instead, we’re looking at retrofitting an entire system. And it’s especially interesting that this hybrid push “to replace the entire fleet” comes after the recent, expensive, and [largely loathed] gps/ tracking/ news systems have been installed to no one’s benefit.

By: twakum

twakum — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 19:46:19 +0000

Hi, guy who used to do Taxi insurance here! the vast majority of taxi accidents are low speed, how often do they get to go 55+? A lot less than limos or your car. While frequency is high, severity is lower than comparable public transportation classes.

What they really hate is its easy to fix a 25+ year old design Crown Vic, as oppsed to buying all new quaterpanels and the like with non CV’s.

Most taxi fleet owners are total douchebags anyway.

By: StationStops.com

StationStops.com — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 16:27:44 +0000

True but I would much rather see pressure put on American carmakers than make the NYC cab fleet foreign - that’s not the right direction.

By: Mike

Mike — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 15:41:51 +0000

It’s really about the money. Hybrid cars cost more than Crown Victorias. The fleet owners, since they rent out the cabbies to the drivers each day, don’t see the cost savings in fuel. The drivers will save plenty every day they drive on fuel costs ($40 or more on a typical day).

Instead, what the fleet owners do is charge more to rent the hybrid out to the driver. In this way, they can also cash in on the savings.

But they still have to lay out more (and we’re talking about 2-3X the amount) to buy the new vehicle. That’s not an easy thing for them to do.

But it will be worth it in the long run. In a recent Calgary study, cab drivers reported it only took them 14-18 months to make up the difference in the cost to buy the hybrid taxi.

By: Boris

Boris — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 14:11:43 +0000

Like Doc said, Crown Vics are a danger to pedestrians and smaller cars- not to mention how cabbies take advantage of their tank-like status to muscle their way out of traffic. I can almost feel Sherman is afraid of losing this street superiority status with the nimbler, lighter hybrid taxis.

Now if only our streets and highways were redone to fix the numerous bottlenecks, substandard highway ramps, and dangerous intersections, cabbies will seize to be a traffic hazard altogether.

By: Michael Gruen

Michael Gruen — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 12:59:59 +0000

It’s simple, really:

American Hybrid Options: 1-ish.
Foreign Hybrid Options: Numerous.

Ford et al know how to lobby.

By: Doc Barnett

Doc Barnett — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 12:06:25 +0000

The fleet owners’ harping on (occupant!!!) safety is a huge turnoff and undermines their complaint that acquiring and maintaining hybrids when they are in such high demand is expensive. All taxi customers are also pedestrians; occupant safety achieved primarily by mass is more than negated by increased danger to outside people and even structures when cabs crash. It’s a backward view of safety that prizes the Crown Vic on NYC streets, and I doubt it resonates even the most devoted (lazy) taxi rider. We all spend more time outside cabs than inside them.

By: Stationstops.com

Stationstops.com — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 05:37:02 +0000

What annoys me the most about NYC taxi cabs is that despite how large the fleet is, no one ever bothered to design an actual cab - they just picked a sedan.

Anyone who has ridden a cab in London knows exactly what I mean. London cabs are specifically designed to be CABS, are extremely easy to enter and exit, and you can walk right into the back of one with your luggage and have legroom galore - plus, they are designed to be easier to keep clean, and they are indeed cleaner. Oh and the drivers can actually get to hotels and landmarks by name without an intersection.

This would be a great time to encourage automakers to design a real American cab with todays needs - including fuel economy based on the driving habits of cab drivers.

While they are at it, they should design a police car too.