American Madness

Intelligent Criticism in the Service of a Better Nation




This is what I am talking about (in a positive light, not the usual way)

Posted by Matt Cipriano | 5 Comments

So, the Green Movement thing- Today, no rant, instead I pay kudos to NYC and specifically to Bloomberg.
Everyone’s favorite Straphanger Mayor has presented a plan to have all of NYC’s taxis be Hybrids by 2012. That means phasing out all traditional vehicles and introducing almost an entire new fleet of cabs to the city (currently there are about 400 out of 13,000 that are).
I really like that instead of going ahead and raising cab prices to cover the higher cost of purchasing a hybrid, he suggests that cabbies will be saving money on gas costs by having more fuel efficient vehicles.

This is all part of his plan to get NYC on track to reduce its carbon emission by 30% in the next 23 years (ok, so, it is a bit long term, but it also means that no drastic lifestyle changes will be necessary). These are the types of steps we should see governments, even local governments, enacting to help 1- break our dependency on fossil fuels, and also 2- to lower our carbon emissions.

Way to go Bloomberg, keep up the good work.
For more details on Mayor Mike’s plans check out PLANYC 2030

This is what the New York government should be working on, instead of BS policy about banning Transfats (don’t get me started on that one)

Posted on May 22, 2007 in Current Events, Environment, Green, NY Times, NYC
Tags: > > >

Comments

5 Responses to “This is what I am talking about (in a positive light, not the usual way)”

  1. Josh
    May 22nd, 2007 @

    I’m not sure, but don’t the drivers buy the gas? The woners buy the cars, but I’m not sure who pays for what when there’s an accident. It sounds like the owners will get stuck buying new cars, though. I don’t see any benefit for them, but the city can do what it wants.

  2. Josh
    May 22nd, 2007 @

    Maybe you can work this into a new post.

    I spoke briefly with Bruce Schaller, head of his eponymous transportatino consulting firm. He says the taxi drivers pay for the gas. But if medallion owners buy the cars, they can recap their costs from the drivers in various ways. One way is if the city raises the cap on the lease fees, which would allow owners to charge more to the drivers (for the right to use their taxi medallion).

  3. MattC
    May 22nd, 2007 @

    Well, theoretically, if the Cab company owners buy the cabs and the drivers are paying for their own gas, then wouldn’t the owners just jack up the leasing prices on the drivers who are saving close to “$10,000″ a year on gas costs (estimated by Bloomberg)? It could also be an incentive for drivers to purchase their own cars and their own medallions. Though, yeah, the city would need to raise the cap on leasing fees…

  4. Paul Woodland
    May 23rd, 2007 @

    So what are we going to do with all the toxic battery acid that these hybrid cars will start leaching into the soil when they die and get thrown in a junk yard ten years down the line? Something to start thinking about now rather than later.

  5. Josh
    May 23rd, 2007 @

    We can ship the battery acid to Saudi Arabia, which will switch to trash disposal and other industries once its oil wealth runs out.

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