Boston cab drivers are a crabby crew on the best of days, but lately they’re exceptionally ticked off. final week, the Boston Police Department’s hackney division (they’re the ones that deal with all things taxi), told drivers and operators that they’ll need to convert their entire fleets to hybrid vehicles by 2015. According to the Boston Metro, that has caused a “measure of frustration and anger among city cabbies.”
Taxi drivers are most stressed about the financial ramifications of the new rule. Most of them drive Crown Vics that cost amidst $6,000 and $7,500, while a new Prius from Boston auto dealer giant Herb Chambers goes for $24,585. That’s a lot of money for a cab driver who, thanks to out of control gas prices, is already having trouble making ends meet.
There are other reasons the cabbies aren’t sold on hybrids — higher insurance rates, too-small trunks, not rigid suitable for daily wear and tear, etc. — but the city’s not hearing it.
“Requiring taxi cabs to go hybrid is an fundamental step in not only
improving air quality, but plus improving the quality of our taxi
fleet,” said Boston Mayor Tom Menino (known locally as Mumbles Menino). “I am confident that these new regulations will greatly improve taxi service in Boston for all residents and our many guests.” considering Boston cabs are needed to retire after they turn six, Menino anticipates that 50-percent of the city’s cabs will be hybrid within two years.
The cabbies may not be happy, but they should keep in intellect that they’re not alone. In New York,
cab needs to be a hybrid by 2012. In San Francisco, cab companies have three years to reduce taxi
emissions by 50-percent, and by in oil-drenched Dubai, officials are testing hybrid cabs with an eye on eventually switching by the city’s entire fleet.
The Boston taxi trade is plus irritated that the hybrid conversion mandate is just one of several new rules being imposed by regulation-loving Boston. The city is requiring cabbies to install credit card machines and wash their windows daily, banning them from wearing sweatpants and t-shirts while on the job, and prohibiting them from using cell phones while carrying passengers.
Boston drivers additionally say they are feeling the pinch from higher fuel prices, despite a recent bump in rates. “We’re pleased that the drivers are going to get a meter rate increase, but we were looking for $3.00 on the mile,” says union spokesperson Donna Blythe Shaw. Someone should remind Donna that Boston’s cab rates are now higher than those in New York, San Francisco, Chicago, or Miami.
Requiring the Boston cab fleet to go all-hybrid is a great notion, but not whether it’s going to financially wipe out the public who drive that fleet. Good job Boston, but now you’ve got to pony up some money to help your cabbies manufacture the transition.
Photo by Flickr user Rishboo
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