Related: Hailing a Taxi in Boston
"Cab fleet wary of 2015 hybrid law; See double standard with city's vehicles" by Eric Moskowitz, Globe Staff | April 6, 2009
Boston's requirement for taxis to go green is rigid: All 1,825 licensed taxis must be powered by hybrid engines by 2015. But the city approach to its own fleet of 3,300 cars, buses, and trucks is more relaxed, with no timetable in place.
The city's lack of specific goals is reflected in its national standing. Boston trails many of the nation's largest cities in the use of hybrid or alternative-fuel vehicles, according to a green ranking by SustainLane.com....
City officials acknowledge that they have no deadlines for the fleet, unlike the mandate imposed on taxi operators, some of whom see a large helping of hypocrisy in the rules.... Taxi owners say they should be granted the same breathing room as the city, given that the recession straining city revenues has also hurt the taxi business....
Yup!! What is SAUCE for the GOOSE is good for the gander!!!
"Drivers can't afford this," said Raphael Ophir of Jamaica Plain, who owns three medallions and is part of a group suing the city over the hybrid mandate. "These people are heartless."
You wouldn't think that of agenda-pushing, do-gooding fart misters -- but you would be very, very wrong.
Now look at the LAME-ASS and ENDLESS EXCUSES the SMUG S***TERS have to offer:
James W. Hunt III, Boston's chief of environmental and energy services, said the city's plan to replace its vehicles with hybrids as they wear out is the same one required of taxis, minus the 2015 deadline. City vehicles last longer than taxis, many of which run 24 hours a day and log 100,000 miles a year, making it less practical to mandate their replacement years, he said....
"The city is converting its own fleet similar to what we're asking cab owners to do," Hunt said. "When we retire a vehicle, we will convert that vehicle to a vehicle that's alternative fuel, where it's available for that function. We're on a different schedule, we keep vehicles longer, there's different functions."
Hunt said the national rankings underestimate the city's contributions to clean air. One-third of Boston's vehicles, he said, should be considered more efficient or otherwise better than traditional models because they are either hybrids, run on a biodiesel blend, or have special fittings to reduce emissions....
All this over that damn fart-misting lie, folks.
Mayor Thomas M. Menino, who has vowed to turn "Beantown into Greentown," announced that he would switch the city's fleet to hybrid or alternative-fuel vehicles during the energy crisis that followed Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
Yup, an AMBULANCE-CHASING, AGENDA-PUSHING MAYOR in the CITY of Bah-stahn!!!!!! Must be SO PROUD!!!!!
The mayor formalized that plan in an April 2007 executive order on climate change that included multiple measures to reduce emissions, generate more renewable energy, and decrease Boston's fossil-fuel reliance. It said all new municipal vehicles would be hybrids or run on alternative or blended fuels, unless such vehicles "are not available for the needed function" - which is why the police can keep the Crown Victorias that cabdrivers must relinquish.
In approving the current city budget last year, Councilor at Large John R. Connolly sought to speed up the city's acquisition of hybrids - a plan since stymied by the economy. But Connolly, chairman of the council's environment and health committee, said the city's practice, even without a timetable, is consistent with the cab requirement and other efforts to make Boston greener.
"The city has a real emphasis on greening across the board," Connolly said. "Hopefully in the long run it creates a stronger economy and a much cleaner, healthier, more sustainable Boston."
"Hopefully?" I thought.... sigh!
John W. Moore, who cofounded the movement that prompted Boston's cab initiative, said the tougher timeline for taxis makes sense. Boston's cabs are among the least efficient of any in the country, partly because of the practice of allowing used cruisers as cabs, he said. "The city's vehicles are not nearly in as bad of a shape as the current taxi fleet," said Moore, a Cambridge architect and founder of Boston CleanAir Cabs.
George Bachrach, president of the Environmental League of Massachusetts, lauded Menino and Hunt for making Boston greener - but said the city could move faster with its fleet. Cab owners who see a double standard would be right to call for the city to go greener sooner - not to seek a slowdown of their own pace, Bachrach said. "If the taxi industry thinks they can resist this, they're on the wrong side of history," he said.
Is that a THREAT, a**hole?
I'd watch it crossing the street if I were you, guy!
--more--"
Did you NOTICE how the PRO-HYBRID, AGENDA-PUSHING GLOBE really SHORT-CHANGED the CABBIES in that piece?
