New York City’s Green Taxi Program Red Lighted By Federal Judge
A federal judge has stopped Mayor Bloomberg’s attempt to clean up the air in New York City by using fuel-efficient hybrid taxis.
The hybrid-cab requirement was the centerpiece of Mayor Bloomberg’s PlaNYC 2030 package of environmental initiatives. It required all new taxicabs to be fuel-efficient hybrids and that all yellow cabs would be green by 2012. The initiative which would have started on Nov 1, specifically required a new cab coming in to service to get 25 miles per gallon, and the following year the standard would be 30 miles per gallon.
The standard yellow cab gets about 14 miles per gallon. Considering there are about 13,000 cabs in NYC and only about one-thousand of them are hybrids, this could’ve had a large positive effect on the city’s pollution.
Bloomberg said he was “very disappointed” and blasted the ruling for relying on “archaic Washington regulations” that keep New York and other cities “from choosing to create cleaner air.” He said the city was exploring options to appeal.
The Metropolitan Taxicab Board of Trade — they represent about a quarter of they city’s taxis – sued to block the enforcement. They argued only federal government could impose such restrictions, not the city’s Taxicab & Limousine Commission. They also noted that Hybrid’s aren’t safe enough to use as cabs.
“Millions of people who ride taxicabs and the thousands of drivers, owners and other participants in the New York City taxi industry can breathe a sigh of relief today,” Trade association president Ron Sherman said in approval of the decision..
“Greening the taxi fleet is a major priority, and we are going to use every mechanism at our disposal to make New York a cleaner, healthier city,” Bloomberg vowed.
Hopefully Yahoo doesn’t mind donating a few more of those green cabs…
Image source: Yodel Anecdotal on Flickr
i think cities should ecourage more companies to advertise on taxicabs and use that money to subsidise cab owners who purchase hybrits. com’on, let capitalism work.
I’m sad that the NYC taxi fleet won’t be going green in the near future, but I’m glad that Bloomberg got shot down.
Bloomberg is a narcissistic megalomaniac with an overly developed nanny complex. He needed to be put in his place. Sadly, he won’t stay there.
[...] A federal judge has stopped Mayor Bloomberg’s attempt to clean up the air in New York City by using fuel-efficient hybrid taxis. New York City’s Green Taxi Program Red Lighted By Federal Judge : Red, Green, and Blue [...]
“no the state should decide…”
“no the feds should decide this…”
“no the city’s have local control…”
if right wing round and round we go, then ashes to ashes we all fall down
Stop global warming.
California sets its own higher fuel economy standards, so it seems like Crotty’s argument has some holes in it when he says that only the fed government can set standards
Also New York WOULDN’T even be setting its own fuel economy standards, the standard would only apply to taxi cabs… there has to be something else going on here that this article isn’t saying
this is sad. reminds me of http://stuffididlastnight.com
I hope they get rid of those box partitions that trap the driver as well!
http://www.yellowcabnyc.com
This is so typical of the red tape. A city tries to implement policies for the people to practice good “green” practices and a judge says no because they don’t want competition. STUPID!!
Another crappy reason we shouldn’t have a big government.
Everyone has their head up their ass about this “going green” thing. Yeah I know Hybrids help reduce pollution but that does not justify FORCING a cab company to buy the clearly more expensive hybrids.
To the people supporting Bloomberg’s attempt:
How would you like it if the government forced you to take the bus to work to save mother earth?
Or the if government limited your water, or electricity use?