Why do Taxis get to charge a "fuel surcharge" fee and the airline industry gets to whine about the price of gas but delivery services like UPS haven't hiked their prices? I know pizza places have a "delivery fee"--well, some of them anyway--but to me that's just transferring the cost of hiring drivers onto the customer, not a reaction to the fuel economy.

I don't know, seems like the transportation industry is getting a free pass, especially on wealthy services. The CTA would never get away with razing its fare prices due to "gas costs".

6/6/2008 8:39:54 PM

I thiink its bullshit. If taxis (in NYC) have a problem with it, well they should all switch to hybrids. I know they aren't free, but they'd work well to change things up here.

6/7/2008 3:17:56 AM

Quote :

"Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg today announced that as part of PlaNYC, the Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC) will implement new emissions and mileage standards for yellow taxicabs that will lead to a fully hybrid fleet by 2012 - the largest, cleanest fleet of taxis on the planet. The new standards will be phased in over a four-year period and will reduce the carbon emissions of New York City's taxicab and for-hire vehicle fleet by 50% during the next decade, and will also save individual operators an average of $10,000 a year in fuel costs"

http://tinyurl.com/36587l

[Edited on June 7, 2008 at 10:37 AM. Reason : .]

6/7/2008 10:32:42 AM

uh, UPS has hiked its prices. You probably don't ship enough to notice it, but I promise you companies that do are feeling the pinch right now.

6/7/2008 11:09:14 AM

Quote :

"I thiink its bullshit. If taxis (in NYC) have a problem with it, well they should all switch to hybrids. I know they aren't free, but they'd work well to change things up here."

considering that hybrids work best in stop and go driving im shocked that this hasnt happened sooner by individuals and companies

[Edited on June 7, 2008 at 11:55 AM. Reason : 

6/7/2008 11:54:29 AM

UPS have absolutely raised their prices. Furthermore, almost every vendor, shipper, or courier service I work with has added a 2-3% fuel surcharge to basically any deliveries.

6/7/2008 12:03:07 PM

^^^^Thanks, I'm aware of that. I basically just meant sooner.

^^exactly, even if its leading other cities they're still behind IMO. Lets be honest here, a Crown Vic in Manhattan stop and go, and the way these guys drive them, probably gets 10mpg.

6/7/2008 12:21:50 PM

I'm wondering how stringent these mileage standards are going to be. Come on, you're not going to see the Prius become the backbone of the NYC taxi fleet, it's just not big enough. While a hybrid Tahoe does exist now (they've sure been hyping it in the commercials) it's still a 5000 lb. Tahoe and if the mileage standards make any sense it won't make the grade. An Escape/Mariner hybrid can carry bags, but you can't seat 3 across in the back. The only thing that makes sense the way I see it is the Camry hybrid, as it's the only hybrid of decent size that isn't either a truck or a luxury car. Maybe 2012 will see an all Toyota NYC cab fleet, which just kinda rubs me the wrong way.

If Ford has half a brain in its corporate head, they'll bring out a hybrid version of the Crown Vic's replacement. I think 2010 is supposed to be the last year for that platform, so they'll have time to keep their foot in the door.

6/9/2008 10:22:57 AM

Diesel is hurting even more than unleaded. It is killing trucks and bus fleets.

6/9/2008 10:29:13 AM

Quote :

"considering that hybrids work best in stop and go driving im shocked that this hasnt happened sooner by individuals and companies"

It sounds like a good idea, but the reasons it's going to take government action for it to actually occur are clear if you think about it. If you owned a taxi fleet or a car service, think about your priorities--yes, mileage is a concern, but probably not the primary one. Space is a big factor, as you need to be able to transport several folks and all their luggage (especially if you do airport runs). Reliability and durability are also big, big factors, and while American cars in general don't have a good reliability rep, but the Crown Vic is a tank of a car that will hold up to a lot of abuse and keep on' tickin. Up to this point you also have the parts interchangability advantage; you're dealing with a car that has had essentially the same design for 10 years. You have an infinite source of parts from cars that are retired/wrecked. It's the same reason that police departments continued to use them for so long when there were other faster, more efficient, more capable cars out there--they're big and they can take a lot.

The change is definitely a good one--I'm curious if they have projections on how much gas will be saved and emissions decreased in the city each year once the fleet is fully hybrid--but they weren't going to do it themselves.

6/9/2008 10:30:14 AM

^ ding ding ding

6/9/2008 10:33:49 AM

I may be wrong, but I think that most taxi drivers pay for gas out of their own pockets. Meaning a cabbie who made $20.00 in tips in one hour while paying $3.00 per gallon in 2007 is still making the $20.00 in tips while paying $4.00 per gallon in 2008. If there wasn't a surcharge, a lot of cabbies would probably look for work somewhere else or strike.

6/9/2008 11:06:05 AM

^they do and they're bitching to no end, trying to get a gasoline surcharge approved.

^^^^^Besides the Camry the Nissan Altima hybrid would also do a good job. The Ford Escape hybrid is a joke and is utterly worthless. I couldn't fit in the back of one of those without splaying my legs out to the side b/c there was no room. How a 4000lb automobile has no interior space is beyond me. I'm 6'2" but thats not much of an excuse.

6/9/2008 12:50:34 PM

The Camry hybrid has no trunk space. Half the trunk is used for batteries.

6/9/2008 12:59:49 PM

still better than a Escape!

Hybrid Tahoes wouldn't be that bad to replace the crown vics. They'd get better gas mileage (almost double at 20mpg) but they're expensive as hell and too large (clog up the roads even more).

6/10/2008 12:18:30 PM