HYBRID TAXI MANDATE INJUNCTION GRANTED BY FEDERAL JUDGE

Statement of Ron Sherman, President of Metropolitan Taxicab Board of Trade
RE: Judge Paul A. Crotty’s Decision Granting a Preliminary Injunction Against the City’s Hybrid Taxi Rule

MTBOT applauds Judge Crotty’s decision to grant a preliminary injunction regarding the City’s hybrid taxi mandate which reads as follows:

“The Court finds that Plaintiffs have standing to bring this action; that they will be irreparably harmed; and that Plaintiffs have demonstrated a likelihood of success on the issue of preemtion. The City’s counterarguments are unconvincing. Accordingly, Plaintiff ’s motion for a preliminary injunction is GRANTED.”

Millions of people who ride taxicabs and the thousands of drivers, owners and other participants in the New York City taxi industry can breathe a sigh of relief today as this ill conceived hybrid taxi mandate which had not properly taken safety, comfort, availability and other issues into account when it was rushed through last year, will not go forward as planned. By granting this injunction, a federal Court has affirmed what numerous groups, associations, State and City legislators, former TLC Commissioners, drivers and others have argued for a long time.

MTBOT has always preferred that this issue be settled out of Court. However, after exhaustive efforts at the TLC we were given no choice and were compelled to advocate on behalf of the safety of our passengers and drivers. Now that the Court has ruled in our favor, and, indeed, in the taxi passenger’s and taxi driver’s favor we look forward to working with the Taxi and Limousine Commission and our colleagues in the taxi industry to ensure the continuity of safe, effective, comfortable taxi service for the riding public, ensure a strong and healthy industry and achieve a fuel efficient, safe, comfortable taxi of tomorrow.

MTBOT is the country’s largest taxi fleet association. It represents 27 yellow medallion taxi fleets in New York City and over 3,500 medallion taxicabs – approximately 25% of the taxi industry. MTBOT members have operated more than 30 different vehicles over several decades including minivans, Compressed Natural Gas vehicles and hybrids. MTBOT advocates on behalf of its members, its 14,000 drivers and the riding public.


RESPONSE BY MAYOR MICHAEL R. BLOOMBERG TO THE NYS HYBRID TAXI RULE COURT DECISION

Court Grants a Preliminary Injunction Against the City’s Hybrid Taxi Rule

"We are very disappointed in the decision and we are exploring our appellate options. The decision is not a ruling against hybrids cabs, rather a ruling that archaic Washington regulations are applicable and therefore New York City, and all other cities, are prevented from choosing to create cleaner air and a healthier place to live. The sad irony here is the laws being relied on by the plaintiff, the Clean Air Act and the Energy Policy and Conservation Act, were designed to reduce air pollution and reduce our dependence on foreign oil which is exactly what moving to fuel efficient cabs will do.

The courts are not the only way we can reach our goal of a cleaner fleet of taxi cabs. I've instructed the TLC to develop a program with strong incentives for the use of fuel efficient vehicles and heavy disincentives for use of the inefficient vehicles of a past generation. Additionally, we will be working with our congressional delegation to produce legislation to update the outdated laws originally written in the 1970s to reflect the current realities of environmental stewardship.

Greening the taxi fleet is a major priority and we are going to use every mechanism at our disposal to make New York a cleaner, healthier city. Taxis are a part of our public transportation system; they must be part of the solution to air pollution, not a contributing cause of the problem."


MAYOR BLOOMBERG ANNOUNCES NEW INCENTIVE / DISINCENTIVE PROGRAM TO REACH GOAL OF GREEN TAXI FLEET

Congressman Nadler and Council Member Yassky are Introducing Federal and City Legislation to Increase the City’s Ability to Enforce Use of Green Taxis

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg today announced a series of initiatives to increase the use of fuel efficient and environmentally friendly taxicabs through new financial incentives and legislative initiatives. The Mayor’s announcement follows a recent decision in Federal District Court that prohibited the City from mandating the use of cleaner, more fuel efficient taxicabs.

The new program announced today offers financial incentives for taxi fleet owners to purchase fuel efficient vehicles and financial disincentives for the continue use of less efficient vehicles. The Mayor was joined at the announcement by Congressman Jerrold Nadler, Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC) Chairman Matthew W. Daus, Council Member David Yassky, Richard Kassel of the Natural Resources Defense Council, Meir Yakuel, Co-Owner of the Yakuel Taxi Garage where the announcement was made, and Rati Sharma, a taxicab driver.

“Last month, we hit a speed bump in our efforts to turn New York City’s yellow cabs green when the courts upheld an archaic law preventing us from reducing greenhouse gases and improving air quality,” said Mayor Bloomberg. “But one of the reasons we have been so successful over the last seven years is we do not let obstacles stop us from achieving our goals.

By offering incentives that will encourage more taxi fleet owners to purchase hybrids we have found another avenue to reach our goal of greening our yellow cabs, improving our air quality, and reducing our carbon emissions. I’m pleased that Congressman Nadler and Council Member Yassky are partnering with us on the legislative front, and I want to thank them for their support.”

“The recent federal court decision to block the greening of New York City's taxis is, I believe, not in keeping with the original spirit of federal environmental legislation,” said Rep. Nadler. “Fuel efficient taxis don't simply represent pie-in-the-sky futuristic luxury for New Yorkers but a present day necessity which will produce a meaningful reduction in our city's carbon emissions. Mayor Bloomberg’s leadership on this issue warrants our support. I intend to introduce legislation in Congress to amend federal law – specifically the Clean Air Act and the Energy Policy and Conservation Act – in order to give states and localities the discretion to set stronger standards in exactly these types of circumstances. Green taxis will be a win-win scenario for everybody.”

“Our goal from the beginning was to get fuel efficient taxis on the road using whatever appropriate methods required to achieve our goal,” said TLC Commissioner Daus. “The new program will encourage the purchase of cleaner vehicles while ensuring taxi drivers are not penalized because a taxicab owner is reluctant to make the wiser purchase of a hybrid vehicle. The 1,551 hybrid taxicabs already on the road have saved their drivers lots of money while contributing to cleaner air. This incentive package will help us take these advances to the next level, and help our city become a cleaner, healthier place.”

“Greening the New York City taxi fleet is an absolute no-brainer,” said Council Member Yassky. “When we announced a green taxis rule earlier this year, New York instantly became a national leader in sustainability. It is astonishing and sad that the taxi industry is still putting up roadblocks.”

“Because they save drivers money, cut pollution on our sidewalks, and reduce our dependence on oil, hybrid taxis are a win-win-win for New York City,” said Richard Kassel, director of the Natural Resources Defense Council's Clean Fuels and Vehicles Project. “It's time for Washington to update its rules so the City's hybrid taxi program can move forward.”

Individual taxi owners have already begun to voluntarily upgrade to fuel efficient vehicles because of the substantial fuel cost savings. The program un veiled today targets the fleet owners who do not pay fuel costs and comprise approximately 25% of taxicabs in New York City.


Incentives and Disincentives

The purpose of the incentive and disincentive program is to encourage fleet owners to purchase fuel efficient cars while holding drivers harmless for the decision of the fleet owners.

The TLC regulates “lease caps,” the amount a fleet or taxi owner may charge for the use of a taxicab or medallion license.

The incentive program will allow fleet owners to increase the lease cap fee charged to drivers in fuel efficient vehicles by $3 per shift which will offset the increased cost of purchasing a fuel efficient vehicle. The driver, while paying the increased lease cap fee, will still see significant savings due to the reduced fuel costs which he or she pays. Taxicab drivers in fuel efficient vehicles achieve an average fuel savings of at least $15 per shift, which adds up to about $5,000 a year. The incentive will generate approximately $2,000 per year per vehicle for fleet owners.

To further encourage the use of fuel efficient taxicabs, the TLC will propose to decrease the lease cap fee an owner can charge a driver by $12 per shift if the vehicle is a Crown Victoria or another non-fuel efficient vehicle costing fleet owners approximately $8,500 per year, per vehicle.

The TLC will strictly enforce taxi leases to ensure drivers are not charged any additional fees by fleet owners.

The new lease caps will affect all taxicabs that are leased out for shift work, except accessible vehicles.

The new regulations will be presented for public hearing and vote at an upcoming public meeting of the TLC and phase in options will be considered.


Legislation

Congressman Nadler will sponsor legislation supported by the City that will amend the Energy Policy and Conservation Act to, at the very least, allow local governments to set fuel efficiency standards for the for-hire vehicles they license.

Council Member Yassky will explore City Council legislation that will examine reducing the required retirement age for Crown Victoria taxicabs and increasing the required retirement age for fuel efficient vehicles to further encourage the use of fuel efficient vehicles.


Legal Strategy

The City will not appeal the decision made last month by Judge Paul A. Crotty in the United States Southern District.

In July, the City filed an amicus brief in the appeal of Green Mountain v. Vermont. Later this month, the City will also file an amicus brief in California v. EPA. The outcome in these cases could put to rest the ability of states and localities to set more stringent standards for passenger cars on their streets. The States of California, New York, and Vermont along with several environmental groups are all parties in these cases.

Approximately 13,000 yellow taxicabs operate in New York City everyday including 1,551 fuel efficient taxicabs.


STATEMENT REGARDING MAYOR BLOOMBERG’S HYBRID TAXI ANNOUNCEMENT

Ron Sherman, President of Metropolitan Taxicab Board of Trade

It is deeply troubling that the City is attempting to do an end run around a federal court ruling that halted an ill conceived hybrid taxi mandate – especially when fuel efficient, accessible, safe, comfortable and durable taxicabs are scheduled to arrive in New York City this summer.

The fact is that today’s hybrids are an unsuitable and entirely unnecessary bridge to achieving a green taxi goal that balances fuel efficiency with safety and other important issues - as two former TLC Commissioners, the Chairman of the City Council Transportation Committee, taxi drivers and even hybrid taxi owners have argued.

The Mayor's attempt to buy off taxi operators and to use backdoor methods to force safe, proven commercial vehicles off the road is wrong and highly challengeable. We disagree with the premise behind these disincentives that money or miles per gallon are higher priorities than passenger safety. We are hopeful that City officials will stop retaliating against those they regulate and work together with the vast majority of the taxi industry in our ongoing efforts to get greener, purpose built taxis to our passengers as quickly as possible.

 


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