New York’s fleet of yellow taxis will be entirely replaced with environmentally friendly hybrid models as part of a drive by Michael Bloomberg, the Mayor, to cut down on pollution.

The city’s 13,000 taxis will be converted to hybrid vehicles, which run on a combination of petrol and electricity, over the next five years after a trial by 375 cab drivers.

Speaking at the launch of the initiative yesterday, Mr Bloomberg said: “There’s an awful lot of taxicabs on the streets of New York City. These cars just sit there in traffic sometimes, belching fumes. This [the hybrid] does a lot less. It’s a lot better for all of us.”

David Yassky, a councillor who has led the green taxi campaign in New York, reassured the audience that New York’s streets would not lose their character in the switch: “New York City’s 13,000 taxi cabs will still be yellow on the outside, but soon they will be green on the inside,” he said.

The so-called Medallion cabs are the only taxis that can be hailed on the street. In 1967 the city ordered that all such cabs be painted yellow.

The taxi hybrids, which are part of Mr Bloomberg’s plan to cut carbon emissions by 30 per cent by 2030, are available in models such as the Toyota Prius, the Toyota Highlander, the Lexus RX 400h and Ford Escape.

The new hybrid Ford Escape taxis run for 36 miles per gallon, compared to the standard present yellow cab, the Ford Crown Victoria, which gets just 14 miles. Hybrid vehicles typically are more expensive than traditional models, although advocates point out that the increase in fuel efficiency will save drivers more than $10,000 (£5,1000) in petrol costs each year.

City officials said that when the new standards were fully implemented, they would reduce carbon emissions by more than 200,000 tons a year.

Fernando Mateo, president of the New York State Federation of Taxi Drivers, an advocacy trade group, applauded the City’s efforts to reduce emissions. “In the short term, they’re going to have to spend more money, but in the long run they will save money. We support getting more hybrids on the road,” he said.

Mr Bloomberg’s plans come after Ken Livingstone, the London Mayor, took moves to limit the emissions of London’s black cabs. The Taxi Emissions Strategy will require all London’s licensed taxi-drivers to limit their emissions of greenhouse gases to European Union standards by the middle of next year.

The new rules form part of Mr Livingstone’s plans for a Low Emission Zone in the centre of the capital. This month he approved plans for the zone that will improve the quality of air, where emissions exceed European Union guidelines.

Figures from the Mayor show that taxis are responsible for 24 per cent of fine particle and 12 per cent of nitrogen oxide pollution created by road vehicles in Central London.

Under Mr Bloomberg’s plan, 1,000 hybrid taxis will be running in New York by October 2008, with the number growing steadily each year until all the cabs are converted in 2012.

New York’s initiative comes barely a month after London Taxis International, maker of the capital’s black cabs, said that its iconic vehicle could be driven off the streets by tough new European pollution rules. In a memo to the Commons Trade and Industry Committee, the company said that the vehicle could be killed off in three years because it would have to pass strict “Euro 5” limits on emissions from 2010.

On the meter

— John D. Hertz started the Yellow Cab Company in 1915 and painted them yellow because a study showed it to be the most visible colour over long distances

— In 1967, New York City ordered that all “medallion” taxis be painted yellow

— More than 240 million taxi journeys are made in New York each year, with the average fare being $6, generating close to $1.5 billion (£760 million)

— About 82 per cent of New York’s 42,000 cab drivers (each cab is shared) are foreign-born; 23 per cent come from the Caribbean and 20 per cent from South Asia

— There are more than 40,000 other for-hire vehicles besides New York’s 13,000 yellow cabs

Source: Times database/US Census 2000

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