801 Low Emission Cabs and Growing: San Francisco is Committed to Reducing it's Taxi Fleet's Emissions

Thanks in large part to San Francisco taxi driver, Paul Gillespie, as of March of this year 55% of the city's taxi fleet is either hybrid or powered by natural gas.

Gillespie joined the then newly formed San Francisco Taxi Commission, 13 years ago. The only driver on the board, his first recommendation was to add clean taxis to the Board's agenda.

What started as a recommendation has become a growing reality. Gillespie along with Mayor Gavin Newsom, the city government and the taxi companies have now created an ordinance that no newly added vehicle to the fleet would emit more than an average of 38 tons of greenhouse gas emissions per year.

To offset the higher costs of purchasing hybrids Gillespie included a "gate" to the ordinance which added $7.50 to the daily rental rate that drivers pay to the Taxi Companys. Saving an average of $20 to $40 dollars in fuel costs, Gillespie's idea was for drivers to share the savings as incentive for the Cab Companies to continue to buy more hybrids.

As result of the ordinance city of San Francisco now has a taxi fleet with 801 hybrid or natural gas vehicles.

“You get so frustrated with the talk about cutting greenhouse gas emissions. Let’s actually do this,” Gillespie said. “Let’s use technology that’s available—maybe we’re going to be pioneering—and use vehicles not intended for what they were built for, but let’s just push forward and be aggressive about this,” says Gillespie.

Read the full article at Hybrid Cars: SF Taxi Driver Wages 10-year Battle to Reduce Fleet Emissions, And Wins

Image Credit: sfllaw via Flickr