Taxi Blog

Red Light on Green Cabs

Federal court judge Paul Crotty’s ruling turned New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s taxicab mpg initiative back into a pumpkin yesterday for Halloween. In a nutshell, as related in recent posts, the mayor was running for president, the mayor wanted to have a legacy of green (not the money kind that he is usually associated with), the mayor declared that all new taxicabs entered into service after October 1, 2008 would have to have a minimum city mpg rating of 25, the mayor was sued by the Metropolitan Taxicab Board of Trade, an association of taxicab fleet operators, in federal court, and voila. We are up to date.

The actual law suit made several claims.

• Safety: the hybrids were untested and are possibly unsafe as taxicabs, especially when outfitted with partitions
• Availability: only a few vehicles met the standards, and supplies of those vehicles would not meet demand for new taxicabs
• Preemption: federal mandates designed to improve motor vehicle emissisions already apply to the vehicles currently used as taxicabs in New York City.

The last argument was used by auto dealers and manufacturers in California when that state attempted to impose stringent emissions regulations in 2007. The federal court decision in that case sided with the plaintiffs, and declared that the California statute was preempted by existing federal statutes. California and sixteen other states in turn first petitioned Congress for relief, then in January of this year filed suit against the EPA. If I were really good at my job I would know the current status of that law suit, but I will get that information on Monday.

It was this same argument that Judge Crotty cited in handing down his ruling and issuing a preliminary injunction. He said that a federal law designed to improve motor-vehicle efficiency “preempts” the city’s regulation. He added that the law suit showed merit and a good chance of succeeding, and that should the injunction not be granted fleet owners could suffer irreparable harm. Bloomberg responded that the decision “is not a ruling against hybrid cabs, rather a ruling that archaic Washington regulations are applicable and therefore New York City, and all other cities, are prevented from choosing to create cleaner air and a healthier place to live”. I tend to agree with him on that.

The bottom line right now is that fleet owners in New York City are once again allowed to purchase stretch Ford Crown Victorias for taxicabs. Unfortunately, due to the Bloomberg regulations, Ford stopped making the Crown Vic. It will take another 6 weeks for them to start up and get vehicles off of the line and into New York. Similarly, there are no Escapes available for sale until mid November, and I haven’t seen a Nissan Altima Hybrid anywhere either. There is rumor of a few Chevy Malibu hybrids available, but I don’t know of anyone who has actually found one and put it on the road. So congratulations to the City of New York for discovering a foolproof way to age the entire fleet of taxicabs by about three months.

Note: The author (I love talking in the third person) is a huge supporter of improving and greening the taxicab fleet not only in New York, but in Chicago as well. He is also a big supporter of Mayor Michael Bloomberg despite the fact that he seems to be running for lord high holy emperor for life.