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Red light for NYC hybrid taxicab mandate
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FILE PHOTO: HARRIS/EXAMINER
A federal judge Friday blocked New York City from requiring owners and operators of yellow taxicabs to switch to more fuel-efficient hybrid vehicles.
The rule, which was scheduled to take effect Saturday, would have made it mandatory for most cabs to be Compressed Natural Gas or hybrid vehicles by 2012, the only exception being those that are accessible to persons using wheelchairs.
Fleet owners, drivers and the Metropolitan Taxi Board of Trade had filed a lawsuit against the rule, which is a major component of the mayor’s effort to make city policies more environmentally responsible. In a statement Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said, “We are very disappointed in the decision and we are exploring our appellate options.”
The mayor made it clear that he strongly disagreed with the ruling, which he said could cripple efforts by other cities to combat air pollution. “The decision is not a ruling against hybrid cabs,” he said, “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.”
The city has 13,237 yellow taxicabs. Nearly 1,500 of them are already hybrids as a result of voluntary efforts; a fraction of those hybrids are attached to medallions that were specifically auctioned for use with alternative-fuel vehicles.
The rule that was to take effect on Saturday was adopted by the Taxi and Limousine Commission on Dec. 11, 2007. It would have required that all new taxicabs coming into service achieve a fuel-efficiency city rating of 25 miles per gallon or higher, rising to 30 m.p.g. by Oct. 1, 2009, with only the disabled accessible vehicle exemption. The extended Ford Crown Victoria, the most common vehicle in New York City's 13,000 plus vehicle taxi fleet only gets 12 - 14 miles per gallon. A spokesperson for the Ford Motor Company said Saturday that the model was being discontinued, so owners would have to choose a new vehicle anyway.
Because all taxicabs must be replaced every three to five years under city rules, the new regulations would have resulted in a fleet consisting only of hybrid and accessible vehicles by 2012.
In his ruling, Judge Paul A. Crotty, who was the city’s corporation counsel from 1994 to 1997, under Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, said he agreed to block the city from enforcing the rule because the plaintiffs were likely to succeed in their key legal argument — that the new regulations were pre-empted under federal law, which reserve regulation of fuel economy and emissions standards to federal agencies.
The hybrid taxi rule has been bitterly fought by taxi owners. Earlier this year, Ron Sherman, president of the Metropolitan Taxicab Board of Trade, said in a statement that “small, light passenger hybrids should not be used as New York City taxicabs, which clock upwards of 100,000 miles a year each and often run 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.” He argued that the Taxi and Limousine Commission “has ignored the laws of physics, which dictates that the larger the vehicle’s interior space, the safer the vehicle’s occupants are in an accident.”
The other plaintiffs were the Midtown Operating Corporation, a garage that leases taxis to more than 800 independent contractors on a double-shifted daily basis; the Sweet Irene Transportation Company, which owns and leases taxis; Ossman Ali of the Bronx, a self-employed independent contractor who leases and drives taxis; and Kevin Healy of Roslyn Heights, N.Y., a frequent taxi passenger.
Judge Crotty said the plaintiffs were likely to succeed on their argument that fuel economy standards were delegated to federal agencies under the Energy Policy and Conservation Act, but he said he did not agree with their argument that the city was trying to improperly regulate tailpipe emissions and supplant the federal role in enforcing the Clean Air Act.
Mohammed Hassan, a taxi operator, who currently drives a Ford Escape hybrid told the Examiner Saturday that he thought the vehicle stood up well and what he made in savings on gasoline, easily made up for the additional cost of the hybrid vehicle. He did however say that passengers have complained about the "lack of roominess" in the tiny SUV.
The full text of Bloomberg's statement:
We are very disappointed in the decision and we are exploring our appellate options. 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. The sad irony here is the laws being relied on by the plaintiff, the Clean Air Act and the Energy Policy and Conservation Act, were designed to reduce air pollution and reduce our dependence on foreign oil, which is exactly what moving to fuel efficient cabs will do. The courts are not the only way we can reach our goal of a cleaner fleet of taxi cabs. I’ve instructed the T.L.C. to develop a program with strong incentives for the use of fuel-efficient vehicles and heavy disincentives for use of the inefficient vehicles of a past generation. Additionally, we will be working with our Congressional delegation to produce legislation to update the outdated laws, originally written in the 1970s, to reflect the current realities of environmental stewardship. Greening the taxi fleet is a major priority and we are going to use every mechanism at our disposal to make New York a cleaner, healthier city. Taxis are a part of our public transportation system; they must be part of the solution to air pollution, not a contributing cause of the problem.
The full text of Sherman's statement:
Millions of people who ride taxicabs and the thousands of drivers, owners and other participants in the New York City taxi industry can breathe a sigh of relief today as this ill-conceived hybrid taxi mandate, which had not properly taken safety, comfort, availability and other issues into account when it was rushed through last year, will not go forward as planned. By granting this injunction, the court has affirmed what numerous groups, associations, state and city legislators, former T.L.C. commissioners, drivers and others have argued for a long time.
M.T.B.O.T. has always preferred that this issue be settled out of court. However, after exhaustive efforts at the T.L.C., we were given no choice and were compelled to advocate on behalf of the safety of our passengers and drivers. Now that the court has ruled in our favor, and indeed — in the taxi passengers’ and taxi drivers’ favor — we look forward to working with the Taxi and Limousine Commission and our colleagues in the taxi industry to ensure the continuity of safe, effective, comfortable taxi service for the riding public, ensure a strong and healthy industry and achieve a fuel-efficient, safe, comfortable taxi of tomorrow.
-The Associated Press contributed reporting
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