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Ask 50 cabbies what they would rather drive, hybrid or Crown Victoria, and at least 20 if not more, will tell you they'd prefer less gas consumption. I say once we go green, we'll never go back, I know it's not quite so catchy but it's the truth. The Metropolitan Taxi Board of Trade just won a preliminary injunction against Mayor Bloomberg's green taxi agenda. What really rubs me the wrong way, is that we cabbies have been mis-represented. The MTBOT doesn't represent all New York taxi drivers. Quite the contrary, it mostly represents taxi owners, most of whom lease their cabs to drivers and thus do not have to pay for gas themselves. The reason the judge halted the green taxi fleet plan was not because of safety issues, or durability concerns. Rather, the judge halted further greening of our taxis because only federal government and not local government, has "the right to set fuel efficiency standards."-NYTimes
To further prove my point I encourage you, the reader to survey 50 cabbies who already drive hybrids as taxis, if 90% don't say they are glad they made the switch, well, I'll be surprised.
Click here for The New York Times article:
For several years now hybrids have been proving their safety and reliability to the public not only as private cars, but as taxis. One of the few things the mayor has done right was buckling down on both the taxi and private for hire business. I posted a piece over at YellowCabNYC.com. Stay tuned over at YellowCabNYC, I'll be publishing pictures and stories over there too, while also publishing over here at NYCtaxiphoto.blogspot.comYellowCabNYC.com is a great source for current news relating to the world of NYC taxi, and I'm glad to be a part of it. I'll make sure NYC taxi photo continues to be as awesome as it always has been as well.
Nissan Altima hybrid taxi 
Two key factors are accomplished with this police car
- The element of surprise
- Bragging rights for the coolest idea in police tactics
Seriously though, they could be more secretive about it. The NYPD views the police as more effective as a noticeable presence, rather than undercover. I am sure they have multiple levels of undercover officers, and this car with multiple sirens and the casual pullovers and busts that vehicles of this type pull is on the low end of 'undercover.'
elmblog wants to know what makes it noticeable as a police vehicle. And I guess that's important information so:
- The license plate is 8 consecutive digits, usually beginning with 'T8OO", while most civilian plates for New York State are 7 digits with a space between the first three digits and the last four, and more importantly most taxicabs in New York City have only four digits on their plates which match the medallion number on the roof light.
- On the trunk lid, there is an extra black thing protruding about 4 inches. This is a police radio antenna or something like it.
- The black trim on the side doors, door in this case, is rarely ever on a real New York City cab anymore.
Other features on the police car that are not shown in this picture: - There is no partition, and while there are a few taxis without partitions, the front seats are made of cloth rather than the leather like material mandated by the taxi commission.
- Sometimes an on board shockproof laptop computer is mounted between the two front seats.
- The Police-cabs are often driven in groups of three very police looking people.
- And the most obvious reason, is sometimes that the car is parked on the same block as the police precinct and the bulb siren is sitting on the dashboard.
Tada, the Chevy Malibu Hybrid- Complete with the "Greenyc" sticker on the C pillar, along with countless other stickers from its garage.
All Hybrid taxis in New York City get the "Greenyc" sticker, a badge of honor and intelligence showing the public that very soon, New York's taxis and even our car services will be eating less gas per mile, and less gas per minute while idling.
But while we're investing in a different taxi, why don't we do it right?
Of all the cleaner vehicles to choose from, the Chevy Malibu has the second worst city gas mileage. The only car with lower M.P.G. on the approved list is the Saturn Vue Hybrid Sport Utility vehicle; both vehicles are made by General Motors. Now, it is wonderful that General Motors has finally joined the band wagon, and is now mass producing hybrid vehicles, these vehicles are significantly reducing our "Dependence on Oil", but still, G.M. should be making even more fuel efficient vehicles than they already are.
Toyota has the most hybrid models. These models are exceptional in their gas consumption in the City, using the battery to power the car at low speeds and while idling. Toyota's technology has also been transferred over to the Nissan Altima hybrid, which gets the second best gas mileage only bested by the tiny Toyota Prius.
Most recently the VW Jetta clean diesel has just been approved.
The Toyota Highlander S.U.V. hybrid taxi The Highlander is the biggest hybrid taxi available. And even with four wheel drive it has a comparable M.P.G. rating to the midsize sedan Chevy Malibu.
And let's not forget the fabulous job Ford has done at making an affordable and durable Ford Escape Hybrid, which gets 34 M.P.G. in the city, making it 3rd best rated Mileage in T&LC approved taxicabs. Its S.U.V. character gives it more trunk room than the Crown Victoria, a higher commanding view of the road, suitable legroom, and easy exit and entry for passengers. The detriments though are a small width providing less ass room for passengers.
Want to see all the New York City Taxis? Click the link below (NYC taxi models) to see all the blogs posted of each taxi.
Oops I forgot to post the old pictures of Ford taxis in movies. So again from the site IMCDB.org, the Ford in NYC taxis from the 70's to the 90's  73' Ford Custom 500 "Taxi Driver"
 75' Ford Ltd"Nine and a Half Weeks"
 79' Ford Ltd Crown Victoria"Night On Earth"
 90' Ford Crown Victoria"As Good As It Gets"
 92' Ford Crown Victoria"Thirteen Going On Thirty"
Alright bare with me here, I can't stop surfing the internet finding examples of old New York taxis. I promise this will be my last post of old taxis, but promises are made to be broken. All the pictures were found on IMCDB.org. Can you believe there is an entire site dedicated to finding the cars used in movies and naming them all!!! Did I die and go to heaven? I know a lot of movies get their history wrong, or they just don't care about history, so if you see any car I posted, and want to add some info about how it really looked, or it never being a taxi, don't hesitate to comment.
Again I must remind you if you don't know already, that the NYC taxi wasn't always yellow. Each cab company would choose their paint scheme. The yellow dominance was introduced by John D. Hertz, a national taxi company owner (Yellow Cab Co.), and later of rental car company fame. He believed that yellow was the most noticeable color.
By the way I just saw my first Chevrolet Malibu hybrid taxi yesterday, I think it was owned by a fleet, so there should be a handful of them within the year.
 72' Dodge Polara"The Seven-Ups"
Nothing says, I live in the era when everything sucks, quite like this car. 
Everything about this car is genuine. the red number 83 indicates this as the 83rd car of a particular taxi company. The taxi fare decal on the front doors and even the medallion number on the roof-light are very accurate.
 57' Dodge Coronet"The Best of Everything"
 77' Dodge Coronet"Murder She Wrote"
Could this be the ugliest car ever made?
 55' Dodge Coronet"North By Northwest"
80' Chevy Impala "The Confession"
In the early 80's the Impala and the Caprice were virtually the same.
 59' Checker "Breakfast at Tiffany's"
Note the green and yellow colors, beautiful.
 37' Buick Special"The Natural"
I wonder if cabs ever had white wall tires?
36' Buick Special "The Pantom"
This roof sign seems very accurate. I don't think any taxi was satisfied with a simple "Taxi" sign. I wish more movies would get this right.
 36' Cord 810 Westchester
"The Shadow"
This car is amazing! Pop up headlights inside the wheel well?!!! How cool is that!!!!!??? Again the roof-light is very comparable to the DeSoto Skyview taxis, very historically acute.
Right when aviation was getting started, everyone wanted to be a pilot. That dash makes the driver feel as though he were flying. I wouldn't be surprised if it had an altimeter.
But my main question is: Was this ever really a taxicab?
 42' DeSoto Skyview"Saboteur"
The Skyview was aptly named for a glass roof in the back. Both the glass roof, and the ample room in the back made it the most desirable cab.
 46' Plymouth De Lux"The Shadow"
 53' Plymouth Cambridge"Funny Face"
Location: Washington Square Park. that's right, 5th Avenue went right through the arch and around the fountain.
 65' Plymouth Fury 3"Blindfold"
 57' Plymouth Plaza"Breakfast at Tiffany's"
55' Plymouth Plaza "Funny Face"
37' Pontiac Delux "The Natural"
 57' Studebaker Scotsman"The Best of Everything"
Section 1: Taxi Past
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1922 Checker model H
1929 General Motors Truck Corp.
36' Checker Y-8
The taxis in this picture are almost certainly Chicago cabs, but I'm almost as certain that the Checker Y-8 was used in New York as well.
"When in New York- Do as New Yorkers Do! CHOOSE the CAB YOU RIDE IN Don't just take the first cab that comes along National Transportation Company- (Parmalee System Management) offers you the finest taxicab service in New York. It costs no more that the ordinary kind and is- CLEAN - SAFE - COMFORTABLE"
Chevrolet
Despite being far far away in time and space, this car has all the true details, right down to the red apple shaped medallion mounted on the grille.
DeSoto Skyview (mid 40's)
Chrysler
Checker (model years 61'-82')
The civilian version was the Checker Marathon. The taxi version was more New York than a slice of pizza or the Empire State Building, despite Checker coming out of Michigan.
 73' Plymouth Satellite
 84' Dodge Diplomat
 80' Cheverolet Caprice
 Peugeot 505 Diesel (model years late 70's early 80's)
A solution to the gasoline crisis of the 80's.
Ford Explorer (circa 96')
Lincoln Town Car (circa 96')
There was only one Lincoln taxi in New York City, only approved for a probationary period.
Chevrolet Caprice (circa 96')
Random sourced photo (model year 92')  In the late 90's, the typical taxi was in transition from the Caprice to the Crown Victoria. The preference was for the Caprice, but due to low sales General Motors soon stopped production.
The colt like love for the large american car and the monopoly that they had over police and taxi markets possessed an entrepreneur to consider purchasing the entire production line and the rights to produce the vehicles once General Motors gave up on production. But after Chevy gave up on the Caprice the fleets turned their interest towards Ford's Crown Vic'.
With the entire market, Ford decided to extend production year after year, although there were always rumors that ford would soon end the Crown Victoria. Again an entrepreneur suggested taking over the operation, but Ford, with a strangle hold on the police and taxi market, has continued production to this day.
Currently Ford has limited sales to only fleets and removed the Crown Victoria from all pamphlets. According to Wikipedia, Ford will stop production completely in 2009.
Ford Crown Victoria' (circa 95')
Isuzu Oasis / A.K.A. Honda Odyssey (circa 96')
The Odyssey/Oasis, was the city's first compact taxi since the Peugeot, and I believe the first van-taxi for New York.
The passenger doors swung out rather than sliding and were fairly large, which I think were requirements for the Taxi & Limo Commission. One feature were passenger seats that could be positioned either forward, for trunk space, or rearward for legroom. I rode in one with the seats forward once and had difficulty getting my 5' 7" body out of the car with my bag.
I imagine this car was fundamental in pushing taxi thinking outside of the box, suggesting that a taxicab needn't be a rear-wheel drive V-8 engined, wide bodied, long wheel base mammoth. With these 4-cylinder vans, drivers took a different, usually less aggressive approach to driving.
Section 2: Taxi Present-
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A: The Hybrids:
 Lexus RX 400h (26 mpg city)
There was an article somewhere on how one of the Lexus driver/owners had a completely clean driving record even after driving for 30 years, impressive. Toyota Highlander hybrid (4 wheel drive, 27 mpg city)
Toyota Highlander hybrid (model years 01' to 07')
Toyota Prius (48 mpg city)
Toyota Camry hybrid (33 mpg city)
Ford Escape hybrid (2 wheel drive, 34 mpg city)
The best bang for the buck, the Escape is sweeping the city with more than 1,000 vehicles both privately driven and also, owned by taxi fleets.
Ford Escape hybrid (model years 01' to 07')
Nissan Altima hybrid (35 mpg city)
This car has absolutely no advertising. The only way people learn there is a Nissan hybrid is through word of mouth. Nissan is actually borrowing hybrid technology from Toyota. The Altima is second only to the Toyota Prius in best city gas mileage on the approved T&LC list. Fleets are already starting to purchase the car.
 06' Saturn Vue Green Line(25 mpg city)
There since has been a larger redesigned Saturn, but no one has purchased it for taxi services yet.
There is one elusive 07' Honda Civic Hybrid that I haven't shot with the camera yet.
The one and only Honda Civic taxi in New York has less legroom, higher gas mileage, and relatively similar if less trunk room than the environmental front runner: Toyota Prius. The only image I could find on the internet was taken in Hartford, Connecticut, and is most likely not the real NYC taxi, which had no advert on the roof.
B: Wheelchair Accessible Taxis:
07' Chevrolet Uplander TC: Eldorado National Mobility
 07' Dodge Caravan: Eclipse Mobility
Ford Freestar
Being phased out by The Taxi and Limousine Commision
Toyota Sienna: Freedom Motors Kneelvan (on right)
C: Regular Taxis:
Ford Crown Victoria Stretch
For the past 4 years or so all Crown Victoria NYC taxis have had extended rear doors
Toyota Sienna
Honda Odyssey
Being phased out by the Taxi and Limousine Commission
Honda Odyssey (model years 99' to 04')
 Ford Explorer (circa 06')
How's this for hilarious, the only image I could find on the internet for the last Ford Explorer taxi involves the bizarre sport of "Extreme Ironing" go figure. The Explorer is no longer on the approved list.
D: The Actors:
Ford Crown Victoria @ Brooklyn Bridge Downtown, on the set of "Pelham 1 2 3" (the remake)
Toyota Sienna
BTW I take back what I wrote on the earlier post a while back about the show. One of my passengers said they knew someone who participated. She told me her friends were NOT pre-selected for the show.
Also, the Driver is an officially licensed cab driver, and the cab is totally official... err... well.. The Taxi and Limousine Commission approved it despite having a completely eccentric meter, flashing lights in the roof, tinted windows that wouldn't even pass inspection on a normal civilian vehicle, and a trunk loaded with video and audio recording and transmitting equipment. Not to mention that Ben readily tells all the viewers that he won't take you out of Manhattan, sorry folks, you can't win, like, uhh, 10,000 dollars.
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