San Francisco: Yellow taxis turn green
    




    







    
    
    
    














  
  
  
        
    
Published on Sustainable Cities (http://sustainablecities.dk)

    

    

    

    
    

    
06-05-2010

    			

								
San Francisco: Yellow taxis turn green

				
The taxi cabs in San Francisco, USA, take the lead in the struggle for a better environment. Today, more than half of the city's taxis are hybrid vehicles or run on compressed natural gas. The objective is clear: by 2012, the city’s taxi operators must reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases by 20% in relation to 1990 levels. And the proportion of environment-friendly taxis is rapidly increasing. The initiative is not just good for the environment, but also for the drivers' purses.

				

			


    
The Mayor of San Francisco, Gavin Newsom, praises the city's green taxi programme, which has been a great success so far. A new milestone has been reached: 57% of the city's taxis are now hybrid vehicles or run on CNG (compressed natural gas). The city passed legislation in 2008, giving the taxi companies four years to reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases by 20% in relation to 1990 levels. They have already reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 12%.
 
Many people expressed concern when the legislation was presented. Wouldn’t maintenance costs be high, wouldn’t passengers have to suffer limited leg space and would the batteries last for the vehicles' lifespan? But San Francisco has already more than 700 hybrid taxis on its streets and until now, none of the above problems have arisen. In 2005, 15 hybrid taxis, all of them Ford Escapes, began operating on trial in San Francisco. The cars have now driven around 300,000 km. They are fast approaching the pension age for taxis and will soon be taken off the road - but not because they cannot run any more. Their lifespan demonstrates that hybrid technology is much more tenable than previously assumed.
 
The new hybrid taxi in San Francisco, Ford Escape. Otzberg, July 30 2006, Flickr Creative Commons.
Hybrid cars are ideal for the environment. Not only do they go further on a litre of gasoline/petrol than ordinary gas vehicles, they also emit far less CO2. The cars do especially well at low speeds and when standing still, which makes them especially relevant as city taxis. The most common taxi in San Francisco, the Ford Crown Victoria, only does about 5-6 km on a litre (12-14 mpg) in the city, says Taxi and Limousine Organisation spokesman Allan Fromberg. "It certainly doesn't have a reputation for being fuel-efficient," he says. A hybrid taxi like the Ford Escape, which runs on a combination of gasoline/petrol and battery power, does about 14-15 km on a litre (34 mpg).
 
The green vehicles do not just benefit the environment but the taxi companies' bottom line as well. The experimental cars in San Francisco have saved their drivers/owners about USD 9000 a year in gasoline/petrol, depending to some extent on fuel prices and the number of shifts. 
In addition to this, the cars' brakes require less maintenance and some of the hybrid models are cheaper to buy than the traditional Crown Victoria.
"For the taxi drivers it is just as much a question of the money in their pocket as the green and the environment,"
Fromberg adds.
 
And the future looks bright for San Francisco's environment-friendly taxis. Car manufacturers Ford, Nissan and General Motors have all promised to make a larger number of hybrid cars specially designed for use as taxis. Together with New York's taxi drivers, who have introduced a similar programme, the companies have had to fight for those cars that are manufactured. The Mayor of San Francisco also has a new demonstration project on the drawing board which, in addition to hybrid cars, will also promote electric taxis. The warm reception that has been given to the environment-friendly taxis seems to indicate that they are an advantage to the taxi drivers, the people of San Francisco as well as the environment.
 
Effects of the clean taxi policy
This initiative has been widely supported by taxi drivers, taxi companies, and the public. The city has managed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from its taxi fleet from over 100,000 (short) tons per year to about 40,000 (short) tons per year, while still increasing the number of taxis on the road. By 2015, the city will offset the remaining GHG emissions through renewable energy or energy efficiency investments, and aims to have achieved zero taxi emissions by 2020. According to Paul Gillespie, the author of the legislation, “this policy takes action appropriate in scope and time frame to the urgency of the problem.”
 

    
Key Learning Points
The success of the hybrid taxi programme was given a good start by legislation that set the limit for the carbon emissions permitted by the taxi companies by 2012. At the same time, it has opened up for agreements with the car manufacturers, who will ensure production of hybrid taxis. 
 
The programme has had quantifiable targets for its positive impact on the environment and it has been possible to measure how many conventional taxes have been taken off the road and the progress made by the taxi companies when it comes to achieving a 20% reduction in relation to 1990 levels.
 
After a few experimental years the economic incentive has proven to be an advantage to the project. The taxi drivers have seen the financial advantage in participating through their own pockets.
 
Process
February 2005 
The first 15 hybrid taxis, all Ford Escapes, go into trial operation in San Francisco. 
 
2008
San Francisco passes legislation giving the taxi companies four years to reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases by 20% in relation to 1990 levels. 
 
March 2009
14 % of San Francisco’s 1,438 taxis are hybrid vehicles.
 
March 2010
The Mayor of San Francisco, Gavin Newsom, announces that more than half (57%) of all taxis in the city are either CNG-powered or hybrids.
The taxi companies have already reduced their emissions of greenhouse gases by 12% in relation to 1990 levels.
Gasoline/petrol consumption in the city has been reduced by approximately 11,000,000 litres a year and greenhouse gas emissions have been reduced by an annual 35,000 tonnes, equivalent to taking some 4,700 private cars off the streets.
 
2012
The taxi companies have reduced their emissions of greenhouse gases by 20 % in relation to 1990 levels. 
 
City Facts
Country: United States 
City: San Francisco
Area: 600.7 km2 (city-county)
Population: 808,977 (city-county, 2008)
Population density: 6,688.4/km2
GDP per capita (country): USD 46,400 (2009 est.)
Source: Wikipedia, CIA World Factbook
 
Project Facts
In 2008, the mayor of San Francisco, Gavin Newsom, supported a green taxi law which determined that the taxi companies had to reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases by 20% compared to 1990 levels before 2012.
 
A Green vehicle guide is published Every year, helping taxi companies and drivers to live up to the legislated reduction.
 
Many sceptics were proven wrong in early 2010 when the city's mayor announced that 57% of the city's taxis now run on alternative fuels, including hybrid vehicles and those running on CNG (compressed natural gas).
 
Facts for Thought
Conventional taxis are also being replaced by greener models in New York. There are about 13,237 taxis in New York. By changing to greener cars, the environment effect will be the same as taking 32,000 private cars off the city’s streets.
 
Although other cities have previously done the same, New York has one of the largest taxi fleets in the world and the changeover to greener cars will therefore have a much more noticeable effect.
“It will be the cleanest, biggest fleet of taxis on the planet,”
says the Mayor of New York, Michael Bloomberg.
 
Related Facts
Hybrid vehicles 
A hybrid car is one that has at least two different propulsion systems. This may, for example be a car with both an electric motor and an internal combustion engine running on gasoline/petrol or diesel. Each propulsion system powers the car on its own or sometimes in combination with the second. The internal combustion engine often powers a generator which in turn powers the electric motor. 
 
Hybrid vehicles have several advantages. The internal combustion engines in hybrid cars can be smaller and lighter than those in ordinary cars. If a lot of power is required, both engines can be used to propel the car at the same time. The internal combustion engine can be rated according to the vehicle's average power requirement rather than its maximum power requirement.
 
When the car brakes, the energy produced can be converted into electricity to charge the batteries. In ordinary cars this power is wasted, being given off as heat.
 
Hybrid cars generally have lower fuel consumption than ordinary cars of similar size. This is particularly the case when the cars are used in urban areas and for short journeys. Hybrid cars are therefore ideal for use as taxis mainly used in urban areas.
 
Source: Wikipedia – hybrid vehicles 
 
References
SFgate.com – Hybrid taxis in San Francisco 
San Francisco’s green taxi law 
Nordea Invest – cars running on natural gas (in Danish only)  
Wikipedia – hybrid taxis 
Los Angeles Times – San Francisco hybrid taxis 
Cnet news – San Francisco’s taxis go green 
Hybrid Cars - SF Taxi Drivers Wages 10-Year Battle to Reduce Fleet Emissions, And Wins
 

    

    

    

    
Source URL: http://sustainablecities.dk/en/city-projects/cases/san-francisco-yellow-taxis-turn-green

    
Links:
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_francisco

[2] https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/us.html

[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hybrid_car

[4] http://articles.sfgate.com/2010-03-23/bay-area/18843369_1_affordable-housing-mayor-bloomberg-taxicab

[5] http://search.municode.com/html/14140/level3/A16_DII_Regu.html#A16_DII_Regu_s1135.3

[6] http://www.nordeainvest.dk/Nyheder/Nyheder 2009/Ugens Perspektiv 2009/291009 Millioner af biler på naturgas/1208002.html

[7] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hybrid_taxi

[8] http://articles.latimes.com/2009/mar/30/local/me-green-cabs30

[9] http://news.cnet.com/8301-30252_3-20000939-246.html

[10] http://www.hybridcars.com/environment/sf-taxi-driver-wages-10-year-battle-reduce-fleet-emissions-and-wins-28788.html