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Yellow Cabs go green in US
Arlington, Virginia (AFP) March 6, 2008 The Yellow Cab is an American classic but in this suburb of Washington they're turning green. Hans Hess, 35, is the owner of enviroCAB, a taxi company which is putting a fleet of all-hybrid taxis on the streets of Arlington. EnviroCAB bills itself as the first all-hybrid taxi company in the country. It began service last month and now operates nearly two dozen cabs -- Toyota Priuses, Camrys and Highlanders and Ford Escapes. Hess, who is originally from Carmel, California, hopes to have 50 of the green-and-white painted taxis on the road by the end of April. "The county regulates the fares so it's exactly the same cost as any other taxi in Arlington County," Hess said. "We say: clean air for the same fare." The hybrid cars do use gasoline to power the electric motor but they emit less carbon dioxide and enviroCAB is supporting clean air programs to make the company "carbon-negative." "We will effectively emit zero carbon dioxide and we'll also remove the emissions of two additional existing cabs for every enviroCAB we put on the street through our carbon-negative offset plan," Hess said EnviroCAB drivers said the fuel-efficient hybrids may cost more to buy but they've cut their gasoline costs in half, from around 40 dollars a day to 15 to 20 dollars a day. Arlington may be the first city in the United States with an all-green taxi company but it won't be the last. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has said he wants all of the Yellow Cabs in New York City to switch to hybrids by 2012. Last week he extended the requirement to the city's fleet of 10,000 hired limousines, the so-called black cars. The plan would require the black cars to meet fuel efficiency standards of 9.4 liters per 100 kilometers (25 miles per gallon) in 2009 and 7.8 liters per 100 kilometers (30 mpg) in 2010. "Between yellow taxis and black cars, more than 23,000 Taxi and Limousine Commission-regulated cars will be required to be more efficient," Bloomberg said. Related Links Car Technology at SpaceMart.com
Too Much Traffic Can Cause A Jam All On It's Own
Washington DC (SPX) Mar 07, 2008A new study from a Japanese research group explains why we're occasionally caught in traffic jams for no visible reason. The real origin of traffic jams often has nothing to do with obvious obstructions such as accidents or construction work but is simply the result of there being too many cars on the road. |
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