Seattle Taxis Going Green?
Dmitry Petrovsky
Like any big city, Seattle has a diverse fleet of yellow, orange, and every color in between, taxi cabs. If you've taken a taxi in Seattle in the past month, you may have noticed something different about the car that picked you up.
At least one taxi company is allowing gas-electric hybrids including the Toyota Prius to join its fleet. Which company is behind this "green" technology trend? According to the Seattle PI, it's the same one that has faced criticism in the past for its monopoly at Sea-Tac airport:
For the airport drivers, the hybrids have taken some of the frustration out of the county's system, in which STITA drivers can pick up passengers at the airport and take them to Seattle, but are barred from picking anybody up in the city and taking them to the airport. Similarly, Seattle-licensed cabbies can take people to the airport but are not allowed to bring anybody back to the city.As a result, STITA drivers find themselves sitting in traffic while they head back to the airport, burning gas, seeing profits go up in smoke while they sit, with the meter not running.
As the PI reports, STITA has a government-contracted monopoly on pickups originating from Sea-Tac International Airport. In a strange twist due to licensing, STITA cabs cannot pickup passengers in the City of Seattle. That results in a lot of extra "empty" trips.
A case-study on the regional taxi market was written by Jeanette Petersen of the Institute for Justice Washington Chapter back in 2004. She reported:
[The] result of these regulations is approximately 650,000 empty trips to and from Sea-Tac Airport (about 10,000,000 "empty miles") per year. This is detrimental not only to the taxi drivers who must pay for gas even when they do not have a passenger in the cab, but also for the community, clogging overburdened roadways and polluting the environment.
If STITA continues to phase in hybrids, and other fuel efficient technology, the company should be lauded for its positive environmental action. As the PI story points out, cab companies in Vancouver, B.C. have been using hybrids for the past two years. Some European taxi services have been greening up their fleets in the past few years as well. One germane example is in the Austrian City of Graz, where a taxi company converted its entire fleet to biodiesel. And since 2004, Graz's public bus fleet has similarly been powered on 100% biodiesel, one of the first public bus fleets in Europe to achieve that feat. Coming back to Seattle, clearly some companies are taking a "wait and see" approach. After all, hybrids don't presently have a ton of trunk space for luggage.
Regardless of whether the STITA cars are plug-in hybrids or the compressed natural gas vehicles originally urged by the airport operator, the Port of Seattle, clearly the environmental benefits are reason enough to applaud the company's and the Port's efforts.
But the problem of government-mandated monopoly of taxi service originating at Sea-Tac - and the thousands of unnecessarily "empty miles" per year for Seattle airport taxis - remains. Unfortunately, that situation doesn't appear to be fixable by simply "going green."
TECHNORATI TAGS: SEATTLE, TAXIS, HYBRID VEHICLES, ALTERNATIVE FUELS, GREEN TRANSPORTATION, GLOBAL WARMING, GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS
Comments
Hmm STITA Cab. Only licensed outside the city of Seattle. Lots of Dead headmiles. So why did they take all their city of Seattle plates off their airport cabs? Deadheading is their thing. Why do they not have a real dispatch to take county customer calls...
Posted by: Stacy Anderson | October 26, 2007 7:14 AM
In response to your October 10th web article titled “Seattle Taxis Going Greenâ€, both the Sea-Tac International Taxi Association (STITA) and the Port of Seattle would like to thank you for your positive feedback on the use of gas-electric hybrid taxis at the airport which result in improved regional air quality.
STITA uses a fleet entirely made up of alternative fuel vehicles, most using compressed natural gas which provides cleaner burning fuel at less cost. The introduction of gas-electric hybrid taxis offer another choice for STITA drivers which are readily available and get increased fuel mileage. Currently, compressed natural gas vehicles are increasingly difficult to get and are more difficult to maintain than other vehicles.
As stated in your article, STITA does have an exclusive contract at the airport through 2010 to better ensure airport customer service and taxi supply. Managing one taxi association over many has proven beneficial at the land-strapped airport and the system has worked well with the exception of the “empty†trips created between the airport and Seattle due to licensing regulations. These regulations restrict STITA cabs picking up passengers in Seattle and non-STITA cabs from picking up fares at the airport, thus creating many deadhead trips.
However, the “captive market†of riders at the airport makes it desirable for STITA cabs to head directly back to the airport to get the next fare and this helps ensure an adequate supply of taxi service for airport customers. Like airport trips, all other taxi trips in Seattle and King County run at deadhead rates similar or higher than airport trips. It’s the nature of the business.
The Port recently studied different taxi service models and evaluated air quality impacts for each alternative to measure the relative levels of green house gas emissions. The taxi models studied included variations of an exclusive taxi contract, an open taxi systems and a mixture of traditional verses alternative vehicle types.
The study found that the greatest emission reductions come from the use of alternative fuel/hybrid vehicles, or smaller vehicles which get high gas mileage (between 30 and 40 mpg). The study also showed that the reduction of deadhead trips can result in reduced GHG emissions, but that the levels of deadhead reduction can be difficult to achieve because taxi drivers are independent contract employees who operate when and where they wish. They are not the employees of taxi associations.
The Port, the City of Seattle and King County have agreed to work together as part of the Mayor’s 2006 Green Ribbon Committee to improve air quality related to taxi service. One recommendation from the Green Ribbon study included examining the use of smaller, more fuel-efficient taxicabs and offering incentives to taxi owners to use gas-electric hybrid vehicles. Another recommendation called for the City, King County and the Port and taxi companies to look at ways to reduce “deadhead†trips.
A study team from the Port, City and County are currently looking at ways to improve taxi related air quality by using a combination of promoting fuel efficient vehicles and by reducing the number of deadhead trips. We hope some ideas from this team can be implemented soon that support the increased use of greener taxis, reduce roadway congestion, increase fuel savings and improve regional air quality.
Thanks,
Dan Burke
Program Planner
Port of Seattle
Posted by: Daniel Burke | November 16, 2007 10:45 AM
Please send me any information you have regarding this company. I am working to develop a business plan for a similar Hybrid Taxi company in Tampa Florida. Please feel free to email me or call. 813-956-2037
Posted by: Patric Pepe | April 22, 2008 7:24 AM
They're not exactly taxis - but Microsoft's Redmond campus uses a ton of Prius hybrids to shuttle around employees. It's a nice way the company is helping the environment together with the bus service they recently set up.
Posted by: Andy Davis | June 9, 2008 2:14 PM