This morning, I was all excited to declare my monogamous commitment to biofuel taxis. Granted, these days, I’m mostly getting around by TTC, bike, foot and Zipcar, but there’s the occasional time when I’m in a rush and a cab is the only thing that’ll get me to my destination on time.
But, sadly, Toronto isn’t as progressive as other cities when it comes to such things, so after an extensive search for eco-friendly rides in this fair town, I eventually had to give up. And while I’m sure I’ve seen a few “This car runs on biodiesel” bumper stickers, I’m not about to stand in the cold for half an hour searching for one (especially not if the sticker’s on the back of the car, in which case it’ll have passed me before I even try to hail it).
On the plus side, according to the site for Natural Gas Vehicles Ontario, there are programs in effect to encourage our cab drivers, limo drivers, bus drivers, truck drivers and even Zamboni drivers to switch to natural gas.
As they explain here, one of Toronto’s most popular cab companies, Co-Op, is currently in the process of converting its entire fleet to natural gas. The company’s decision was spurred a decade ago by the bylaw stipulating that all the city’s taxis must be replaced after five years, except those running on natural gas, which get a two-year extension.
“Co-Op has been using natural gas vehicles since July 1999 in our fleet,” the manager is quoted as saying. “We operate approximately 80 NGV factory built Ford Crown Victorias and approximately another 80 vehicles that have been converted to natural gas. In addition we also operate a modern state-of-the-art natural gas refilling station.”
In one of their older press releases, Co-Op says only about 10% of Toronto taxis run on natural gas, which is a shame, because every one that does apparently contributes a greenhouse gas reduction of approximately seven tons per year.
So, although natural gas doesn’t get nearly as many hippie points as other fuel alternatives, I’m going to make sure that all the cabs I hail from now on are Co-Ops.
Photo of a Co-Op cab courtesy of PDPhotography on Flickr
Posted by gettinggreen
