Trend Watch: Taxis Go Green to Save Cash, Emissions, and Oil

Imagine our surprise as we arrived at the historic and stately Empress Hotel in Victoria, British Colombia last year and found ourselves surrounded by an array of new age hybrid taxis. The signature yellow Prius and Camry Hybrid cabs were a welcome and unexpected sight, but apparently present no surprise to locals since Empress Taxi (now Yellow Cab of Victoria) has been doing this for years. There are now over 70 hybrids in its fleet. This isn’t an anomaly … it is now a trend.

Empress Taxi started out with a 2001 Toyota Prius, which makes it the first hybrid taxi effort in Victoria and one of the earliest out there. That 2001 Prius reportedly accumulated over 250,000 miles before being retired.

The trend toward more eco-friendly cabs has been evolving for some time. In fact, this is far from a North American phenomenon. While hybrid taxis are found in L.A., New York, Chicago, and a growing number of U.S. cities, they are also waiting to transport customers internationally in cities from Sydney to Rome to Tokyo. Even the iconic London Black Cab can be found in a hybrid variant. Hybrid taxis have clearly become the rage.

Similarly, we were surprised many years ago in Sydney, Australia, when the taxi we took from the airport was running on propane. We found that most taxis run on cleaner-burning propane there because of the country’s prolific production and supply of that fuel. In fact, propane is popular in many countries and often used for cabs.

Natural gas is also increasingly encouraged for taxi use since it’s the cleanest burning fossil fuel and in abundant supply in many countries, including the U.S. Clean Energy Fuels, the largest provider of natural gas for transportation in the nation, is providing fuel for a growing number of taxi operations nationwide including nearly 1200 cabs in Southern California alone, including Checker Cab, Fiesta Taxi, and Los Angeles, South Bay, and Long Beach Yellow Cab operations.

We’re seeing this trend even in smaller towns and cities. In Green Car Journal’s own home town of San Luis Obispo on California’s central coast, a new cab company called Green-Go Taxi is now transporting clients in Toyota Prius hybrids. According to founder Deven Wek, the idea came together as he saw taxi cab operators in distress even as Prius drivers didn’t seem to flinch during times of fuel cost spikes. That thought is obviously occurring to others as more hybrids make their way into taxi cab service in increasing numbers.