Judge quashes green plans for NYC's yellow cabs

Ford Motor Company

New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg's plans for greening the Big Apple's taxi fleet took a hit last Friday when a Federal judge ruled that no, the city can't force cab operators to switch to more fuel-efficient vehicles as they added new cabs to their fleets.

The rule was set to go into effect on Saturday, November 1. Bloomberg expressed disappointment at the decision.

Taxi owners? Not so much.

They're quick to point out that the smaller, more efficient cars that many had started buying to use as taxis are simply not built to handle the punishment that is taxi duty in New York City. There's something to be said for this -- those Ford Crown Vics may not be the greatest on gas, but they sure can take a beating. (There's a reason police forces use them too, after all.)

And speaking as a passenger, the big Fords are a lot more comfortable and roomy than the ragtag group of smaller, more fuel-efficient cabs mixed into the fleet. (I saw a Civic Hybrid out there the other day and all I could think was, "How is a family of tourists supposed to get themselves and a metric ton of luggage back to the airport in that?")

Anyway, the upshot is this: The city may appeal. Or not. It may instead look toward a program based on incentives rather than outright mandates. You know, the carrot instead of the stick approach.

For what it's worth, I like that best. Make the conversion worth the taxi operators' while, and you'll probably see them buy into it. Put a gun to their heads, and you're likely to encounter resistance. In fact, that's exactly what happened, and the city lost.

Alex Nunez is associate editor of Autoblog.com. Alex Nunez's blog posts are provided by LifeWire, a part of The New York Times Company.