Design Editorial: Green Yellow Cabs in NYC

Mayor Micheal Bloomberg announced last week all New York taxis would be converted over to hybrid vehicles by 2012. The city will be phasing out the standard issue taxi Ford Crown Victoria over the next few years. The city has also approved all hybrid sedans and light SUV's for use as taxi's.

While many (including myself) are excited about the taxis going green I'm not to excited to hear the Crown Victoria's will be making their exit and I'm even less thrilled that Ford doesn't seem to want to make a hybrid Crown Victoria. Ford will loose a big portion of the market share pie if the Crown Victoria vanishes from the streets of New York.

The Crown Victoria is seen by many as a gas guzzling behemoth, but it is the essential New York taxi. Some people, especially a couple of Ugoff like designers of conceptual taxis, find the Crown Victoria ugly. It's a utilitarian vehicle designed for practical uses.

It's big, roomy, boxy and can take what the streets of New York dish out. It has been an iconic symbol of New York just as the old Marathon Checker cabs and the Chevrolet Caprices of the 80's and 90's have. Why not kept it on as a taxi and just switch it to hybrid so it can mingle with the rest of the hybrid taxis?

What about Chevy? True, they are producing environmentally friendly SUV's (finally). True, Suburbans are major culprits of air pollution and converting them to hybrids first is an effective way to lessen air pollution, but how about a hybrid Impala?

Ever since the Caprice taxi disappeared from the streets in 2000 something has been missing in New York. There was a mix of Chevrolet and Ford (also Honda Odysseys) There hasn't been that eclectic mix of taxis during the reign of the Crown Victoria. Now that eclectic mix is back- multiplied by 10 and its green.

From a design standpoint a Toyota Prius does not look like a taxi. Nor does a Toyota Highlander, or a Chrysler PT Cruiser and not even the best selling sedan in America, the Toyota Camry.

When someone flags a taxi and a Prius pulls up along side the curb you think "that's cute, now where's a real taxi?" You expect soccer moms or teenage girls to be driving the Higlander when you hop in the back. A PT Cruiser may suitable for Best Buy's Geek Squad division but not as a New York Taxi.

The Ford Escape looks just OK as a taxi but why do the urban streets of the Big Apple need light SUV taxis cursing around? Are cabbies going to re-enact the scene from Die Hard with Vengeance when the taxi drives through Central Park? Or maybe they'll drive through construction zones as a sort cut in traffic jams. Yes, the light SUV's have more room, but a big sedan like the Crown Vic and Caprice have lots of rear leg room and plenty of trunk space for those JFK fares.

The Escape (especially the newly redesigned one) seem more suited for driving up rugged trails with a kayak on the roof than cruising about the streets of New York in taxi form, though it does pass (just barely) as a taxi. The Prius, Highlander, Camry and PT Crusier though do not have the utilitarian look that the Crown Victoria, Caprice and old Marathon checkers have.

Though, the luxurious Lexus RX400 does not look like a car meant to be NYC taxi either but it is a surprising, welcome, luxurious addition to the fleet and an refined ride for cabbies and passengers. Will New York go Paris on us and bring on a fleet of Bluetech Mercedes E classes or hybrid BMW's? Only the city budget will tell.

In the mean time the American sedans we are so use to hoping in the back of are about to disappear. While some say good riddance those those big, boxy American taxis have given the streets of New York its identity; after all New York is an American city. Those famous yellow cabs have made onto the big screen in Hollywood and into millions if not billions of tourists photographs.

With Toyota's and Honda's taking to the streets as taxis it may become hard to recognize Times Square. It could be mistaken for Shibuya Square in Tokyo. From the street level world cities are looking more and more alike, especially the downtowns.

But we live in a globalized world and imported taxis are the reality. Though, it would be nice to see the hybrid Crown Victoria's and even the Impala's be a part of post 2012 New York streetscape.