Rising gas prices help drivers see green

Toronto city council endorsed a fuel surcharge for taxis last week in the face of rising gasoline prices and may finally be considering relaxing its taxi leg room requirements to allow smaller cars and more hybrid models into city fleets. Meanwhile, hybrid sales are brisk at Canadian dealerships, proving a long-held belief among many environmentalists that high gas prices would be a strong motivator in encouraging mainstream residents to drive greener vehicles.

While New York has mandated that all 13,000 of its cabs be replaced with hybrids by 2012 and that all taxis meet certain emissions and mileage targets as of this year, Toronto has so far lagged behind in allowing smaller, more fuel-efficient cars on the roads. “I believe that we should be moving toward hybrid fleets or fuel-efficient cars, whatever it is that we can get,” says Louis Seta, president of the Toronto Taxi Industry Association. “It only makes sense to operate something that’s more efficient.”

Anyone whose visited the west coast over the past few years must have wondered why their aren’t more hybrid taxis on Toronto streets as there are in Vancouver and Victoria.

With a grant from Toronto Atmospheric Fund, Co-op Cabs launched a year-long test last November to compare 10 Toyota Camry hybrids to 10 conventionally-powered Camrys in terms of performance and fuel efficiency, but the jury is still out on the question of financial advantage. “There is some savings, no doubt about it, but it’s not very much,” Co-op CEO Peter Zahakos said. “These are preliminary statistics we have, so it’s not 100 percent sure, and that’s without factoring in the costs for maintenance,” which are unknown for hybrids over the five-year lifespan of a high-use cab in Toronto.

But what about the savings in emissions? (The source article in the Globe for this piece makes no mention of environmental benefits to hybrid taxis.) Even a small difference in fuel economy makes a big difference in emissions over the life of a car, reducing them by 25 to 35 percent over even the most fuel-efficient gas-powered models. By switching a fleet of gas-guzzling taxis to hybrids, the city would be spared tonnes of greenhouse gases. Hybrids produce very little emissions during the low-speed, stop-and-start driving that characterizes most city taxi trips, so they make perfect sense for a large city like Toronto.

Residential drivers are catching on. Prius, Highlander hybrid and Camry hybrid models from Toyota Canada are all but impossible to get and Civic hybrid models from Honda are in severely short supply, dealers said yesterday.

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