On Wednesday, February 8, 2012 San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee and former SF Mayor and current California Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom were on hand to celebrate San Francisco's 'success in meeting the guidelines since the Green Taxi Law went into effect three years ago,' according to a press release from Ford.
The stringent law that was passed in 2008 by then Mayor Gavin Newsom called for gas consumption and greenhouse gas emissions to be reduced by 20 percent by the year 2012. The baseline year of 1990 was used to make the calculations. According to Lt. Gov. Newsom,
“When I announced this goal, many people didn’t think it could be done,... The clean taxi program has shown that aggressive action is possible at the local level to make major reductions in carbon emissions, reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and accelerate a new green economy. Now we are here today recognizing San Francisco as the ‘Greenest Taxi City in America.’”
Since passing the law, San Francisco has reduced green house emissions by 35,000 tons per year and gas consumption has been reduced by 2.9 million gallons per year. The success of the program is due to the city using alternative energy vehicles. Those vehicles include hybrids and vehicles that run on compressed natural gas (CNG). Ford vehicles, which include the CNG-powered Transit Connect Taxi and the Fusion Hybrid, now account for 67 percent of San Francisco's taxi fleet. The total of San Francisco's taxi fleet which includes alternative energy vehicles is now 92 percent. San Franciso Mayor Ed Lee stated,
“San Francisco’s clean taxi program has exceeded all expectations... San Francisco taxicabs are the cleanest in the U.S. and a model to other taxi fleets around the world.”
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